In the past, women looked upon childbirth with both excitement and fear. They never knew if it was the start of a new life with a baby or the end of their own. All the complications of pregnancy and delivery that are with us today were also a part of history, however, little could be done to deal with or detect trouble before or after it arose. Practitioners did the best they could with the tools and knowledge they had. However, sometimes the "best" was also the most lethal, and practitioners did more harm than good. For those wishing to prevent a pregnancy, contraception was available; a lady just needed to know where to find it.

This book offers an overview of the history of contraception, pregnancy and childbirth from ancient times to the Victorian era, from a writer's perspective. Topics include the training and techniques of midwives and doctors, medicines, pain relief, complications and mortality surrounding childbirth. Period nomenclature, tools and other details necessary for writers to craft realistic historic scenes are discussed, as well as methods of contraception available and how information about sex and childbirth was disseminated. Firsthand accounts from medical practitioners and their patients provide a picture of pregnancy and childbirth in the time before antibiotics and anesthesia.