How exactly did women used to die in childbirth?

Question:

How exactly did women used to die in childbirth?

I know a bunch of old books and movies refer to women dying in childbirth, but how exactly can that happen? Do they bleed to death, pass out or forget to breathe due to pain, suffocate, or just die because they can't get a C-section? What? Also, does anyone know how common it was? What about how common - uncommon - it is today?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: You're all partly correct. I get this information from documentation provided to me from memoirs from my grandmother, who was a midwife.

Indeed, many women did perish from the physical trauma of pushing out the baby and others would hemmorhage but the most common problem was that women would run excessively high fevers immediately following the birth of their babies. Why? That mystery wasn't solved until about the 1950s... After birth. Not all of the after birth would get removed and it would create terrible infections and that is ultimately what killed so many women after child birth.

If there is a rip or tear in the placental wall as the child is being extracted, this gives way for error and small bits and parts to be left behind. This was often the case.

So you have the physical trauma of pushing for goodness knows how long (trauma to the heart and other vital organs), hemmorhaging and infection from after birth.

I hope this helps you!