Category:
Pregnancy
Pregnancy
A Five-Year Pregnancy
According to a sixteenth-century legend, recounted in the 1560 manuscript Histoires Prodigieuses by Pierre Boaistau, there once was a woman who suffered through a five-year pregnancy. Here's the story as summarized by Dr. Irvine Loudon in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (May 2003):The woman in question was Marguerite, the wife of George Walezer, who lived in 16th-century Vienna. In 1545 she became pregnant and felt the normal movements of the baby during pregnancy. When she went into labour with 'furious and sharp pains' she called her mother and some midwives. During the long labour they heard a noise and commotion like a cracking inside the mother and thereafter the fetal movements ceased. They assumed, correctly it seems, that the baby had died. The midwives used all their skills but failed to deliver either the baby or the placenta.
Some days later, feeling her pains return, Marguerite summoned a series of most eminent doctors from far and wide, imploring their help. The doctors merely gave her a series of drugs but with no effect. Marguerite therefore 'resolved to let nature take its course and bore with exceeding pain for the space of four years this dead corpse in her stomach'. In the fifth year she finally persuaded a surgeon to open her up and remove the child which was 'half rotted away'. The operation took place on 12 November 1550. Marguerite soon recovered and was 'so full of life and so healthy that she can still [i.e. in 1559] conceive children'.
Some days later, feeling her pains return, Marguerite summoned a series of most eminent doctors from far and wide, imploring their help. The doctors merely gave her a series of drugs but with no effect. Marguerite therefore 'resolved to let nature take its course and bore with exceeding pain for the space of four years this dead corpse in her stomach'. In the fifth year she finally persuaded a surgeon to open her up and remove the child which was 'half rotted away'. The operation took place on 12 November 1550. Marguerite soon recovered and was 'so full of life and so healthy that she can still [i.e. in 1559] conceive children'.
"The operation on Marguerite of Vienna"
As unlikely as the story may sound, Dr. Loudon argues that it could be true:
Marguerite’s ordeal may have been due to an abdominal ectopic pregnancy. Most ectopic pregnancies occur when the fertilized ovum becomes implanted in the fallopian tube, and a tubal ectopic pregnancy almost always dies after two or three months of gestation. But just occasionally the fertilized ovum becomes implanted in the wall of the abdominal cavity. Sometimes, it is thought, abdominal ectopic pregnancy starts with implantation into the fimbriated end of the fallopian tube and then migrates to the abdominal cavity and invades the peritoneum secondarily...
It may be that Marguerite’s dead baby was never delivered vaginally because it was never in the uterus. Being shut off, so to speak, from the outside world, a dead baby could have escaped being the source of an infection...
In this case, when a surgeon finally agreed to operate, he did not perform a caesarean section; he simply opened the abdominal wall and promptly saw and removed the remnants of the baby. The placenta would not have been a problem because in abdominal ectopics if the baby dies the placenta soon shrivels and can be left intact. This one had five years to shrivel.
It may be that Marguerite’s dead baby was never delivered vaginally because it was never in the uterus. Being shut off, so to speak, from the outside world, a dead baby could have escaped being the source of an infection...
In this case, when a surgeon finally agreed to operate, he did not perform a caesarean section; he simply opened the abdominal wall and promptly saw and removed the remnants of the baby. The placenta would not have been a problem because in abdominal ectopics if the baby dies the placenta soon shrivels and can be left intact. This one had five years to shrivel.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 09, 2024 -
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Category: Medicine, Surgery, Medieval Era, Sixteenth Century, Pregnancy
Birth Control by Hypnosis
The perfect birth control for couples who want more children.
Glasgow Daily Record - Feb 9, 1976
Corsicana Daily Sun - June 6, 1976
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jul 07, 2024 -
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Category: Hypnotism, Mesmerism and Mind Control, Birth Control , 1970s, Pregnancy
Lullaby from the Womb
Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 21, 2024 -
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Category: Body, Pregnancy, Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, 1970s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
Loma, A Citizen of Venus
Read it here."Long narrative on a cosmic germ theory of evolution. A Venusian comes to earth to educate the male fetus of an unwed mother so that the fetus will become the apostle of Venus's ideal culture. On Venus clothes are considered ugly and unsanitary, all human faculties are developed and 'balanced,' and social status is determined by a network of interpersonal relations among strangers, acquaintances, associates, brothers, sisters, lovers, and consorts -- the more of the latter three, the higher the status."
Posted By: Paul - Sun Apr 23, 2023 -
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Category: Eccentrics, Gonzo, Demento, Kooky, Wacky and Out-there, Science Fiction, Nineteenth Century, Pregnancy
The Cherry Tree Carol
This song establishes that the folklore about pregnant women demanding weird foodstuffs--pickles with ice cream, for instance--goes way back. Also, it has Embryo Jesus speaking from the womb.The Cherry Tree Carol is a bit darker than most Christmas related songs. It is identified as a Kentucky mountain ballad on the record. In fact it is a much older song from the early 15th century. The song is quite lovely and presents an unusual variation on the story of Mary and Joseph.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 07, 2022 -
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Category: Food, Holidays, Music, Religion, Pregnancy
The Handsome Cabin Boy
Surely such a filthy song should incite the outrage of censors!BONUS: Versions by Kate Bush and Jerry Garcia in extended.
In the 19th century, broadside texts of the Handsome Cabin Boy remained steady sellers on the fairgrounds and in the backstreets of provincial towns for sixty years and more. A very widespread song, ashore as well as afloat, it is still not infrequently found among traditional singers in eastern England and north-eastern Scotland.
It's of a pretty female as you may understand
Her mind being bent for ramblin' all unto some foreign land
She dressed herself in sailor's clothes or so it does appear
And she hired with a captain to serve him for a year
The captain's wife, she being on board, she seemed in great joy
To think her husband had engaged such a handsome cabin boy
And now and then she'd slip him a kiss, and she would 'a liked to toy
It was the captain found out the secret of the handsome cabin boy
Her lips they were like roses, her hair allwas all in a curl
The sailors often smiled and said, "she looks just like a girl"
But eating of the captain's biscuit, her color did destroy
And the waist did swell of pretty Nell, the handsome cabin boy
It was in the Bay of Biscayne, our gallant ship did plough
One night among the sailors was a fearful flurry and row
They tumbled from their hammocks, for sleep it did destroy
They swore about the groaning of the handsome cabin boy
"Oh doctor, dear, oh doctor", the cabin boy did cry
"My time has come, I am undone, surely I must die"
The doctor cam a-runnin', and smilin' at the fun
To think a sailor lad should have a daughter or a son
The sailors, when they saw the joke, they all did stand and stare
The child belonged to none of them, they solemnly did swear
The captain's wife she says to him "My dear I wish you joy
For it's either you or me's betrayed the handsome cabin boy"
So each man took his tote of rum, and he drunk success to trade
And likewise to the cabin boy, who was neither man nor maid
"Here's hoping wars don't rise again, our sailors to destroy
And here's hoping for a jolly lot more like the handsome cabin boy"
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 06, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, Music, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Fables, Myths, Urban Legends, Rumors, Water-Cooler Lore, Pregnancy
Lactation Cookies
'Lactation Cookies' are cookies that supposedly help to boost milk production in nursing mothers. Recipes vary, but the main ingredient seems to be oatmeal. So, they're essentially oatmeal cookies.I heard about them for the first time yesterday, but they've been around for a number of decades. The oldest reference to them I could find was in a 1974 zoo keepers journal discussing ways to increase milk production in orangutans. However, interest in them has spiked in the last decade, and there are now bakeries that specialize in making them, such as here and here.
Do lactation cookies actually work? The jury is still out on that question. Wikipedia, in its article on galactogogues (lactation inducers), notes that "Herbals and foods used as galactogogues have little or no scientific evidence of efficacy." But on the other hand, what harm can an oatmeal cookie do? And maybe they'd work via the placebo effect.
Incidentally, Guinness beer has also long been rumored to induce lactation and was often given to nursing mothers in Ireland.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 04, 2022 -
Comments (5)
Category: Babies, Food, Body Fluids, Pregnancy
The woman who married a rag doll
Recently in the news: Meirivone Rocha Moraes of Brazil married a rag doll named Marcelo, and now claims that she's had a child with him. The kid is also a rag doll.More info: NY Post
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 25, 2022 -
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Category: Marriage, Dolls and Stuffed Animals, Pregnancy
The housewife who became pregnant after watching Uri Geller
March 1974: a Swedish housewife claimed that, after she watched Uri Geller on TV, her contraceptive coil got bent out of shape, thereby causing her to become pregnant.Given that the housewife was never named, I'm going to assume this story sprang from the overly fertile imagination of the "Sunday Mirror Reporter in Stockholm".
Uri Geller references the event in his biography, posted on his website, but gives no more details than are available in the Sunday Mirror story, which suggests that, at the very least, he was never sued by the Swedish housewife.
Sunday London Mirror - Mar 17, 1974
Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 10, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Paranormal, 1970s, Pregnancy
How the Virgin Mary got pregnant
According to ancient Christian tradition, it was through her ear. Details from JohnSanidopoulos.com:In both Eastern and Western art of the Annunciation, we often find that the trajectory of the descent of the Holy Spirit is not to the womb of the Virgin Mary, but to her ear. In complete deference to her virginity, the conception had nothing to do whatever with her female sexual organs, which remained forever intact. She did not conceive through her womb, but through her ear (conceptio per aurem).
Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 30, 2022 -
Comments (4)
Category: Religion, Pregnancy
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |