Emergency Childbirth A Reference Guide for Students of the Medical Self-help Training Course, Lesson No. 11 — Reading Companion

(0 User reviews) 277

In Category - Nursing Hygiene

Authors: United States. Office of Civil Defense, United States. Public Health Service Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2008 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Labor (Obstetrics) -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.; Childbirth -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.; Delivery (Obstetrics) -- Handbooks, manuals, etc. Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 6,578

Reading time 29 min

Text sections 1

The source record for Emergency Childbirth A Reference Guide for Students of the Medical Self-help Training Course, Lesson No. 11 — Reading Companion measures this digital text at 6,578 words, 29 min estimated reading time, and 1 detected text section.

The text analysis averages about 19.5 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Labor (Obstetrics) -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #26923

This 1970 U.S. government handbook instructs non-medical personnel on delivering babies in fallout shelters. Its numbered imperatives, emphasis on non-intervention, and detailed kit specifications reveal a Cold War-era attempt to standardize emergency obstetrics through concise, authoritative language.

Editorial Edition Score 4.4/5

★★★★★ ★★★★★

Calculated from edition completeness, EPUB availability, text structure and catalogue metadata. Not a user rating.

How this score is calculated

Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg26923

Read the Text

Produced by David Reed and Al Haines.

A REFERENCE GUIDE FOR STUDENTS OF THE MEDICAL SELF-HELP TRAINING COURSE

We wish to acknowledge with grateful appreciation the many services provided by the American Medical Association, through the Committee on Disaster Medical Care, Council on National Security, Board of Trustees and staff, in the preparation of this handbook.

From the inception of studies to determine emergency health techniques and procedures, the Association gave valuable assistance and support. The Committee on Disaster Medical Care of the Council on National Security, AMA, reviewed the material in its various stages of production, and made significant contributions to the content of the handbook.

A joint publication of the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Office of Civil Defense

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Public Health Service Health Services and Mental Health Administration Division of Emergency Health Services 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20852

Reprinted December 1970

1. Let nature be your best helper. Childbirth is a very natural act. 2. At first signs of labor assign the best qualified person to remain with mother. 3. Be calm; reassure mother. 4. Place mother and attendant in the most protected place in the shelter. 5. Keep children and others away. 6. Have hands as clean as possible. 7. Keep hands away from birth canal. 8. See that baby breathes well. 9. Place baby face down across mother's abdomen. 10. Keep baby warm. 11. Wrap afterbirth with baby. 12. Keep baby with mother constantly. 13. Make mother as comfortable as possible. 14. Identify baby.

1. DO NOT hurry. 2. DO NOT pull on baby, let baby be born naturally. 3. DO NOT pull on cord, let the placenta (afterbirth) come naturally. 4. DO NOT cut and tie the cord until baby _AND_ afterbirth have been delivered. 5. DO NOT give medication.

DO NOT HURRY--LET NATURE TAKE HER COURSE.

If it becomes necessary for families to take refuge in fallout shelters there will undoubtedly be a number of babies born under difficult conditions and without medical assistance.

Every expectant mother and the members of her family should do all they can to prepare for emergency births. They will need to know what to do and what to have ready. (See "Expectant Mother's Emergency Kit.")

A pregnant woman should be especially careful to protect herself from radiation exposure. She should have the most protected corner of the shelter and not be allowed to risk outside exposure. She should not lift heavy objects or push heavy furniture. If food shortages exist, she should be given some preference.

Fear and possible exertion involved during an atomic attack will probably increase the number of premature births and of miscarriages.

Usually there is plenty of time after the beginning of first labor pains to get ready for the delivery. Signs of labor are low backache, bloody-tinged mucous strings passing from the birth canal, or a gush of water from the birth canal.

The mother will need a clean surface to lie on. Her bed should be so arranged that the mattress is well protected by waterproof sheeting or pads made from several thicknesses of paper covered with cloth. Cover these protective materials with a regular bedsheet.

A warm bed should be made ready in advance for the baby. It may be a clothes basket, a box lined with a blanket, or a bureau drawer placed on firm chairs or on a table. If possible, warm the baby's blanket, shirt, and diapers with a hot water bottle. Warm bricks or a bag of table salt that has been heated can be used if a hot water bottle is not available.

A knife, a pair of scissors, or a razor should be thoroughly cleansed and sterilized in preparation for cutting the umbilical cord. If there is no way to boil water to sterilize them (the preferred method of sterilization), sterilize them by submersion in 70 percent isopropyl alcohol solution for at least 20 minutes or up to 3 hours, if possible. Sterile tapes for tying the umbilical cord will be needed. (Do not remove them from their sterile wrappings until you are ready to use them.) If no tapes are available, a clean shoestring or a strip of sheeting (folded into a narrow tie) can be boiled and used wet as a cord tie substitute.

Labor is the term used to describe the process of childbirth. It consists of the contractions of the wall of the womb (uterus) which force the baby and, later, the afterbirth (placenta) into the outside world. Labor is divided into three stages. Its duration varies greatly in different persons and under different circumstances.

Continue Reading →

The handbook opens with a list of fourteen imperatives under “What To Do” and five under “What Not To Do,” each phrased as blunt commands: “Let nature be your best helper,” “DO NOT hurry,” “DO NOT pull on baby.” This imperative structure, repeated in the bold directive “DO NOT HURRY—LET NATURE TAKE HER COURSE,” establishes the manual’s core rhetorical strategy: replacing clinical nuance with memorizable, action-oriented rules. The authors assume a reader with no medical training, operating under extreme conditions.

Imperatives as Rhetoric

The manual’s reliance on numbered lists—fourteen dos and five don’ts—transforms childbirth into a sequence of discrete, non-negotiable steps. The phrasing is consistently terse: “Keep hands away from birth canal,” “Place baby face down across mother’s abdomen.” This brevity serves a dual purpose: it aids recall under stress and projects certainty. The “What Not To Do” section uses emphatic capitalization for “DO NOT,” reinforcing prohibitions as absolute. Notably, the manual never explains why these actions are dangerous; it simply forbids them. This rhetorical choice prioritizes compliance over understanding, a deliberate trade-off for an audience unlikely to have time for physiology.

The Expectant Mother’s Emergency Kit

A detailed inventory of a 1½-pound kit occupies several paragraphs, specifying items like “blunt-end scissors (cheapest scissors will do)” and “four pieces of white cotton tape, ½ inch wide and 9 inches long.” The inclusion of duplicate items (“two extras are included as a safeguard”) reveals an awareness of contamination risk in shelter conditions. The packing instructions—laying plastic flat, folding corners, tying knots—read like a survival drill. The kit is designed to be carried “over the arm… leaving the hands free,” a detail that underscores the manual’s grounding in mobility and scarcity. The authors even note that extra weight “might mean leaving behind some other items needed for survival,” framing childbirth supplies within a broader calculus of resource allocation.

Identification Under Duress

The manual devotes a section to “Identification Tapes,” specifying adhesive strips for mother and baby with pre-printed fields for “parents’ names, blood types, and mother’s Rh factor” and “date and hour of birth.” This emphasis on labeling reflects the manual’s institutional context: births in group shelters or evacuation centers could separate families. The instructions treat identification as a procedural step, not an emotional act. The sample illustrations (described in text) show tape layouts, reinforcing the manual’s visual-verbal coordination. The phrase “especially if the birth should take place in a group shelter rather than a family shelter” acknowledges the social disruption of atomic attack, where newborns might need to be matched to mothers by paperwork.

Voice of the Bureaucracy

The manual’s authorship—jointly by the Office of Civil Defense and the Public Health Service—shapes its language. Sentences like “If food shortages exist, she should be given some preference” use the conditional and passive voice, typical of government directives. The acknowledgment thanks the American Medical Association’s “Committee on Disaster Medical Care, Council on National Security,” a name that merges medical authority with military preparedness. The text oscillates between clinical detachment (“retard vaginal bleeding”) and plainspoken advice (“Keep her warm and quiet”). This hybrid voice—part field manual, part public health pamphlet—reflects the Cold War goal of making obstetrics a civilian defense skill. The manual never mentions pain relief, emotional support, or bonding, focusing entirely on survival logistics.

Readers should approach this handbook as a historical document of emergency medicine, not a modern childbirth guide. Its value lies in what it reveals about mid-twentieth-century assumptions: that non-medical personnel could manage deliveries, that supplies must be minimal and portable, and that identification procedures matter as much as clinical steps. The manual’s blunt language and list-based structure offer a case study in how government agencies translated complex medical knowledge into actionable rules for a lay audience under threat.

Reading the numbered steps for delivering a baby in a fallout shelter, I recalled my grandmother’s whispered stories of home births—how the calm, firm instructions felt less like medicine and more like a hand held steady. This same quiet authority lives in Remarks on the Subject of Lactation — A Closer Reading, where bodily trust outweighs clinical noise. Both books ask for patience, not panic, and that feels like a grace.