Chapter 881 A unique delivery.
Li San Niang was not at all surprised by the men's departure; in those days, men were not allowed to be present during childbirth.
One reason for this is that when a woman is giving birth, her birth canal is open, and having more people in the room increases the risk of infection; this is the reason why men are not allowed to be present.
Secondly, it is now believed that women are yin and men are yang, and the blood-colored fluid flowing from a woman's uterus is particularly yin, which is unfavorable to men and is considered very unlucky.
It's kind of funny when you think about it.
A woman who has never menstruated is said to have no eggs released and therefore cannot conceive, and thus cannot have children.
Isn't that a contradiction?
Women who possess menstrual blood are clearly the true creators, yet people believe that menstrual blood is detrimental to human health.
The third reason, of course, is that the man was of little use to him anyway.
Furthermore, because women often expel feces and urine during childbirth, it was to prevent men from developing romantic feelings for women after seeing them in this state.
This is truly even more ridiculous.
You should know that in the West Market of Chang'an, there are stalls where cockfighting and dogfighting are so intense that blood is drawn in every single fight.
Not to mention, in the underground fighting arenas, there are plenty of people who pay to watch the brutal hand-to-hand combat between two people, or even the story of a warrior fighting unarmed against wild wolves and dying in their jaws.
Aren't those fierce and brutal fights all bloody and gruesome?
Men can watch those things, but they can't bear to watch women give birth?
Isn't that ridiculous?
However, the main character on the platform today is a pig, a plump sow pregnant with several piglets.
Those who remained stared intently at the sow on the high platform, which was grunting and squealing. In front of everyone on the high platform, Li San Niang, with the help of Song Fu Ling, began to change into a complete set of surgical gowns.
Princess Taiping, watching from below the stage, was quite puzzled by this scene. However, given her noble status, the Imperial Medical Bureau had already arranged for a female physician to explain to her why Li San Niang was being so particular about each step.
"...This measure can prevent infection to the greatest extent possible..."
Those in the audience who were physicians, even those who were not experts in ulcer treatment, had already learned from yesterday's ulcer treatment demonstration that all these actions were based on the concept of aseptic technique, in order to minimize the entry of pathogens into the body.
For every step Li San Niang took, Chen Yan Fu would loudly explain it from the side.
"Cesarean section is a method of cutting open the pregnant woman's abdomen layer by layer, locating the uterus, and directly removing the fetus from it."
Therefore, before this procedure can be performed, the patient must first take an anesthetic powder to relieve the pain, so that the physician can proceed.
At the opportune moment, Song Fuling took a packet of numbing powder mixed with honey from the tray carried by the attendant who had walked up to the platform and poured it into the sow's feeding trough in the wooden cage.
The sow, who was originally restless and pawing at her hooves, caught a whiff of the sweet, cloying scent of numbing powder mixed with honey in the feeding trough between her sniffs. Within moments, she could not resist her instincts and began to eat from the trough.
Princess Taiping watched with curiosity as a pig ate from below the stage. After a while, the sow lay down and fell asleep, snoring softly.
Then the waiters stepped forward and opened the wooden cage. With the help of six strong waiters, they lifted the huge sow onto the high platform that had been prepared beforehand.
"The first step is disinfection."
As soon as Chen Yanfu finished speaking, Song Fuling, who was also dressed neatly, stepped forward.
She first went to the sow's head and pulled out its tongue, then took a soft cloth, dampened it with water, and wiped the sow's entire belly.
Finally, he poured high-concentration alcohol from a porcelain bottle on a tall table onto another cloth and used the alcohol-soaked cloth to wipe the sow's entire belly again.
"The second step is to lay out the towel."
Song Fuling covered the sow's belly with a light green cloth with an opening in the middle, exposing only the sow's belly to the surgical field of vision.
"The third step is surgery."
Only at this stage does Li San Niang make her appearance.
Although it was a cesarean section that Li San Niang was already familiar with, it was the first time she had performed it in front of so many people, so she couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
After taking a deep breath, Li Sanniang picked up the small scalpel from the high table and stood in front of the sow's belly. Without needing to activate her X-ray vision, Li Sanniang simply touched it with her hand and found the right spot.
A white knife goes in, a red knife comes out.
"The fourth step is to stop the bleeding with acupuncture."
Song Fuling assisted Li Sanniang, quickly and accurately inserting needles to stop the bleeding, while Li Sanniang swiftly peeled open the sow's belly layer by layer to accurately locate the uterus.
With one scalpel, he put down the scalpel and used both hands to forcefully tear open an incision about one zhu long (10cm).
Li San Niang quickly took out the first piglet. Song Fuling, who was standing to the side, took the piglet from Li San Niang's hands. Li San Niang then turned back to continue taking piglets out of the sow's womb.
In the end, Li San Niang pulled out a total of eight piglets.
Here comes the crucial moment. Chen Yanfu shouted loudly, "Remove the placenta, perform a D&C, and check for any bleeding points."
After Li San Niang forcefully removed the placenta with her bare hands, she carefully cleaned the uterine cavity to ensure there were no bleeding points. Only then did she pick up the catgut sutures and meticulously suture the sow's abdomen layer by layer on the spot.
Chen Yanfu also explained Li San Niang's every move.
Li San Niang's hands moved extremely fast during the suturing. Before anyone present could react, she had already closed the sow's abdomen.
Meanwhile, the eight piglets that had been delivered by cesarean section were placed in a wooden frame lined with clean straw.
And while Li San Niang was dealing with her blood-soaked surgical gown that reeked of a strong odor, the eight wooden crates containing piglets had already been taken by the servants and placed in various locations below the stage for people to see.
Princess Taiping was naturally quite surprised to see the squealing, white, soft-haired piglet in front of her.
She didn't seem to mind the filth and reached out to touch the piglet.
"Dr. Li's skills are truly amazing!"
Princess Taiping had such feelings, and the others in the room felt that this was simply too miraculous.
Old Man Zhou took advantage of his aisle seat. As he looked at the piglets in the wooden crate that the waiter handed to him, he couldn't help but rub his eyes. "This...this is really...I never thought that I would see such a strange thing in my old age."
Meanwhile, Tang Mingyue and Tang Qi were both looking excited. Tang Mingguang, Tang Mingxing, and Tang Shisan were also shocked and excited when they saw the tender little piglet in front of them.
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