Recently, I had another writer ask me about whether a physician could recognize “infertility” in a woman during the Georgian Era.

First, I had to determine whether the woman was a widow, meaning she did not give birth to a child by her first husband. How long was she married the first time?

When I researched this, I found information in IN THE FAMILY WAY by Judith Schneid Lewis very helpful. There are 16 copies available on AbeBooks. Kind of expense, but well worth the money for learning something of the Georgian Era and feminine care. Austen-inspired author, Sophie Turner, gave it a 5 star review on Goodreads. “This is one of the best books I’ve ever read on this era. It’s about far more than childbirth, and delves into the changing role of marriage during this time (from one of duty to family to a more emotional union), as well as the changing role of extended family.”

One might also look to Domestic medicine: or, a treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases by regimen and simple medicines by William Buchan, M.D.

Blurb: The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.
Medical theory and practice of the 1700s developed rapidly, as is evidenced by the extensive collection, which includes descriptions of diseases, their conditions, and treatments. Books on science and technology, agriculture, military technology, natural philosophy, even cookbooks, are all contained here.

I think there may even be information in THE MAKING OF MAN-MIDWIFERY by Adrian Wilson.

Blurb: The Making of Man-Midwifery: Childbirth in England, 1660-1770 ~ In England in the seventeenth century, childbirth was the province of women. The midwife ran the birth, helped by female “gossips”; men, including the doctors of the day, were excluded both from the delivery and from the subsequent month of lying-in.

But in the eighteenth century there emerged a new practitioner: the “man-midwife” who acted in lieu of a midwife and delivered normal births. By the late eighteenth century, men-midwives had achieved a permanent place in the management of childbirth, especially in the most lucrative spheres of practice.

Why did women desert the traditional midwife? How was it that a domain of female control and collective solidarity became instead a region of male medical practice? What had broken down the barrier that had formerly excluded the male practitioner from the management of birth?

This confident and authoritative work explores and explains a remarkable transformation–a shift not just in medical practices but in gender relations. Exploring the sociocultural dimensions of childbirth, Wilson argues with great skill that it was not the desires of medical men but the choices of mothers that summoned man-midwifery into being.

To the best of my research, I do not know of a means to examine a woman for infertility in those days, that is to say, beyond a lack of her periods or very irregular periods or some sort of injury.

Some of the methods I recall being recommended by the accoucheurs were: a change in diet for the lady (less beef and red wine, generally lighter, more vegetable diet), cold baths, going away to a watering place/spa. Also periods of abstinence from sex (believing the woman’s system was somehow over-tired by it and a rest would help).  Bloodletting was also something done. Although I have seen just a few suggestions that the husband’s fertility might be the issue, generally what I have read indicates that it was not popular for physicians to say so. They probably did not want to offend the gentlemen and since heirs were desired, would keep coming up with things for the ladies to try.

Here’s a link to Buchan’s DOMESTIC MEDICINE on barrenness.  http://www.americanrevolution.org/medicine/med48.php#anchor1987289

As with most medical issues of the time period, there were advertisements by doctors who said that they could cure infertility by Galvanism.

However, these methods usually worked in married women because the medical community really did not have a way to say that a virgin was barren.

Nancy Mayer has previously mentioned that there may have been other quack remedies.  A midwife might have other suggestions, herbs maybe. It depends on what class your heroine belongs to and whom she might consult. The Regency was a time when the upper class were moving away from using midwives and using male accoucheurs instead.  I believe both are story options depending on the situation.

Here is a scene from my Regency novel, A Touch of Scandal, Book 1 of the Realm Series. In it you will see how Lady Eleanor Fowler attempts to assist her future sister-in-law who is in labour. This excerpt from Chapter 12 speaks to the way women of the Regency era used herbs, etc., to increase their ability to deliver a child.

“What in the world is this?” Ella exclaimed as she assisted Lady Linworth undress Georgina.

Lady Amsteadt looked at the linen sash fastened about her middle. “It is a Tansy Bag. The midwife at home insisted I wear it. She and Thomas feared the journey from Devon would be too strenuous on a woman so far advanced, but it was important for me to be home with Father and all.” Ella nodded her understanding; she would have done the same even for William Fowler, but even with that knowledge she wondered if the bag had exasperated Georgina’s condition.

Removing it, Ella laid the poultice on a nearby table. “Tell me what the midwife said of the bag.” Other than being curious about the herbal medicine, Ella wished to keep Georgina Whittington’s mind from the situation.

“Mrs. Woodson swore the bag would prevent a miscarriage if a woman was frightened somehow or there was some other accidental cause.” Georgina took several deep breaths. “You do not think the bag hurt my child, do you, Lady Eleanor? I would die if my foolishness would cause me to lose this child.”

Ella braced Lady Amsteadt’s back as the young woman’s mother slipped a muslin gown over her daughter’s head and shoulders. “I cannot believe you could do anything foolish, Lady Amsteadt,” Ella assured, although Georgina’s description had increased Ella’s concerns regarding the folk remedy. She smoothed the woman’s hair from her face as she removed the pins holding the chignon in place.

“It is just that Mrs. Woodson told me to wear the sack from time to time, sometimes in the morning and sometimes at night.” Ella noted how fear had returned to Georgina’s countenance. “I thought, you see…” She caught Ella’s hand tightly. “I thought if sometimes was good to prevent…to prevent a miscarriage, using the bag every day in the morning and at night would increase my chances of a healthy delivery.”

“Nothing you did was in error,” Lady Linworth declared. “Do not go on so, Georgina.”

Tears misted the girl’s eyes. “But what if it was wrong, Mama?”

Ella took control. “Other than a good handful of leaves of tansy, was there anything else in the sack?”

“Nothing…I swear by all that is holy; there was nothing else in the sack, Lady Eleanor. We just sewed the leaves in the sack of gill and heated it upon a warming pan. Then I laid the bag across my navel,” Georgina’s voice rose with the recitation.

“Georgina, listen to me.” Ella cupped the girl’s chin in her hands, forcing James’s sister to look directly at her. “Lady Linworth and I will let nothing happen to this child. You must believe me.”

For elongated seconds Lady Amsteadt stared deeply at Ella. “I believe you, Lady Eleanor.” Ella prayed she had not made the mistake of promising something she could not deliver. However, it seemed important to win the girl’s trust until assistance arrived.

As Ella picked up the discarded clothing about the room, Lady Linworth came up behind her and whispered, “Could the treatment have hurt Georgina?”

“Probably not the tansy leaves, but maybe the heat,” Ella murmured. “Truthfully, I have no idea. Do you suppose the midwife will arrive soon?”

“I pray so,” James’s mother continued. “What does either of us know of delivering a child?”