![]() ![]() They were met with indifference, hostility and rejection. Kronig & Gauss presented a series of papers on Twilight Sleep that included the drug’s ability to erase the memory of the birth at a national obstetrics conference in Berlin in 1906. Experimentation continued, with repeated small injections of varied doses of scopolamine and morphine. ![]() Reports recorded the desirable sedated state but also the problems and side effects: slowed pulse, decreased respiration, delirium. Scopolamine, derived from a highly toxic plant (henbane), was gaining acceptance in general surgery, but many obstetric experiments ended badly or in overdose. Twilight Sleep was based on the earlier research of Dr. “peasant” women (strong-willed, hardened). He especially deemed this true for “modern” (weak, vulnerable) vs. He believed labor pain was destructive – causing complications and trauma. ![]() Kronig had both a scientific and humanitarian interest in the pain of childbirth and had been obsessed for a decade with the development of Twilight Sleep. The Frauenklink was the Women’s Clinic of the State University of Baden, directed by Dr. ![]() In 1913 two female reporters from McClures Magazine in New York, Marguerite Tracy & Constance Leupp, went to the Frauenklink in Freiburg Germany to witness and write about “Dammerschlaf,” the apparent miracle of Painless Childbirth. The Real Story of Twilight Sleep and How it Shaped Obstetrics and Hospital Birth How It Began ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |