Thematic Question Week 2

What was the role of a Midwife during the late 18th and early 19th century in Maine? What changes did Martha Ballard see in medical practices during her lifetime?

The duties of being a midwife were exhausting, dangerous and daring yet very satisfying. Midwives were skilled to deliver babies and mend and heal the sick. They had to be ready at all times of the day and night to go out and make a journey to either deliver a baby or to save someones life from disease and sickness. However, midwives didn't just do these tasks. When they returned home from a delivery or a house call due to sickness they had to take care of the children and their daily household chores of cooking, cleaning, laundry and all of the tiring tasks it takes to take care of many children and a husband.

Martha Ballard was a midwife of the late 18th century and early 19th century in Hallowel, Maine. She had to always be ready to be called out to another household and sometimes another town. The journeys to other towns were sometimes dangerous and lenghty but this was also a duty of a midwife. Martha sometimes didn't get sleep and would be extremely tired doing all of the things she had to do. These are some of the negative things about being a midwife. However for Martha delivering a new baby into this world or to heal someone that is dying is very satisfying and that overrides the negative.

Being a midwife of this time means that you deliver babies and heal the sick. When the cases are very serious or to much for a midwife to handle that is when a doctor is brought in. A doctor only took over a midwives position during those times. However near the end of Martha's time being a midwife doctors were starting to become more dominant. They started to do more deliveries when the cases weren't serious and were the ones called in for mending when someone was sick. During Martha's lifetime she new her career and what her duties were as a midwife. She new where her place was and where a doctors place was. Towards the end what she new started to change. Her duties of a midwife started to diminish and doctors started to get credit.

The role of a midwife during the late 18th and early 19th centuries was very hard and tiring. Martha put in a lot of time and pain during her years of a midwife to see the career she loved be turned over to doctors. Martha however had a satisfying but very hard career as a midwife and did her job well.