Ye Olde C-Sections

As it turns out, the caesarean section isn't as modern as I thought it was. For some reason, I assumed it was a 20^th century invention. In England, as it turns out, this surgery was a thing since at least the 1770's. It's likely Europeans had been carving out babies since even earlier. Though, back then, this operation was always a last resort sort of thing.

Childbirth in the 18^th century was much riskier than today's ultra sterile birthing facilities. Generally, the whole thing involved only the mother and some female family and friends. Occasionally, a paid midwife would be brought in. These midwives had no formal qualifications, just a lot of experience birthing babies.

Formally-trained male midwives were a relative rarity. However, they knew what they were doing. They had the research knowledge, experience, and fancy forceps to get things done right.

Either way, there were no anaesthetics or antibiotics. Mothers-to-be just had to grin (or grimace) and bear it. This was further exacerbated when birthing complications necessitated a caesarean.

William Cooper, in 1774, was the first doctor to perform a caesarean in England where the baby lived. However, the mother did not survive. It should be noted that surgical pain and a lack of anaesthetics usually results in dead bodies.

In 1793, James Barlow performed the first c-section where the mother survived. In this case, however, the baby did not survive.

It wasn't until around 1819 that the first recorded successful c-section, for both parties, was performed in the British Empire. In this case, it was performed in South Africa by an educated female midwife posing as a man.

Childbirth remained difficult and deadly for decades. Before 1800, about 1.5% of women died in childbirth. Compare that to about 0.0082% in 2010. (Note: the book that gives the former figure does not clarify if it was 1.5% of childbirths resulted in death or 1.5% of all womanly deaths were from childbirth)

Sources:
"Jane Austen's England" - Roy and Lesley Adkins
"Maternal mortality: how many women die in childbirth in your country?" - Simon Rogers
"Cesarean Section - A Brief History" - Jane Eliot Sewell, Ph.D.