Chapter 44: The Temporary Worker of Windsor Castle

  New book uploaded, seeking collection, seeking recommendation

  "Excuse me, madam, what's your name?"

  In a temporary glass house set up next to the palace in Windsor Castle, Dr. Zhu put on his white coat and rubber gloves again, took over the shining surgical knife from a female court attendant who had temporarily changed her profession to become a nurse, and smiled at a heavily pregnant woman lying or tied to the operating table.

  "First, sir, my name is Mary." The young woman was not very old, not particularly good-looking, with red hair and blue eyes, and a lot of freckles on her nose - she looked like an Irishwoman, which in fact she was, having been hired by Will Heming from Manchester's Little Ireland for a few pounds as a test subject.

  As Her Majesty Queen Victoria was eager to experience the legendary Caesarean section, although she was reluctant to have someone cut open her noble belly, she was even more unwilling to die in childbirth, for she loved so dearly the people of Britain under her rule...

  Her Majesty the Queen is now sitting alongside Prince Albert in two chairs outside the glass house, her brown eyes wide with wonder and excitement. The living dissection performance, Her Majesty has never seen anything like it before! And...it's said that after the autopsy, they can even sew up the belly with thread, and within a week this woman tied to the operating table will be able to jump back to the slums of Manchester to continue suffering.

  In contrast, Prince Albert looked rather tense, his lips pale and his eyebrows tightly furrowed. It was unclear whether he was worried about the woman who was about to undergo surgery or his own wife, who was due to give birth soon. If today's surgical performance was successful, the possibility of Her Majesty dying in childbirth would be greatly reduced.

  "Don't be afraid, madam, it's just a small operation." Dr. Zhu Jishi smiled reassuringly at the woman who had sold her belly for a few pounds - she wasn't a difficult birth, but purely because her family was so poor they couldn't even afford to cook and had taken a risk.

  "Jazz, is chloroform ready?" Dr. Zhu asked his assistant and anesthesiologist, Sir Reed, who was also a member of the Royal College of Physicians and the Queen's personal physician, as well as Dr. Zhu's first student. Compared to Her Majesty's safety, their personal grudges were nothing; if he didn't have this awareness, how could he be a royal physician?

  In fact, Sir John Reid was a very responsible royal doctor, especially good at obstetrics and pediatrics. The fact that Queen Victoria gave birth to nine children safely and all of them grew up to adulthood is the best proof.

  "It is ready, sir." said Sir Read with respect.

  Chloroform is currently the focus of surgical anesthesia gas research in British medicine, and Zhu Jishi has not done much research on surgical anesthesia, so he followed Lord Reid's advice to use chloroform, and also used hydrochloric acid morphine for auxiliary anesthesia and postoperative analgesia.

  Dr. Zhu nodded and said to the pregnant woman with wide eyes and a terrified face: "Madam, later my assistant Lord Reed will give you some chloroform, after that you won't know anything, when you wake up, your baby will have already arrived."

  "Really?" the pregnant woman asked tremulously.

  "Honestly, I swear to God." Zhu Jishi didn't believe in God, but he always liked to mention the old man.

  "Okay, I'm ready......" The pregnant woman's tears finally burst out.

  "Ether, give her ether." Dr. Zuo knew he had a soft heart and couldn't bear to see women cry, so he hastily asked Lord Reed to anesthetize the pregnant woman, then began the cesarean section operation. First, he let the nurse repeatedly wipe the pregnant woman's abdomen with iodine, then used a surgical knife to make a correct incision in the right position, and found... After opening it up... The baby was safely taken out and handed over to the nurse for cleaning, and finally, Dr. Zuo personally guided Lord Reed to suture the wound of the pregnant woman.

  This surgery is not considered a major operation in later generations. Zhu Jishi has done it many times at the Ou Men Hospital and can now be considered a familiar routine. However, to the two onlookers, it was incredibly amazing. Especially the queen, who was so excited that she couldn't stop talking about her thoughts even when having lunch with Zhu Jishi.

  "...it's too wonderful, a child can be born this way! The abdomen of the woman in labor is cut open... Oh, that woman really won't feel any pain, will she?"

  "It won't hurt, and after the operation, she will still need to take morphine for five days. Five days later, her wound will be completely closed, so it won't hurt anymore," said Zhu Jishi.

  "How wonderful!" The Queen clapped her hands, turned around and looked at Prince Albert with sparkling eyes, "Dear Albert, do you know how painful childbirth is?"

  "Ah, dear Alexandrina," Prince Albert said with a faintly bitter smile, "a Caesarean section is not without its risks after all." He looked at Juzi, "Jason, don't you agree?"

  "Yes, there is indeed some danger."

  The queen pouted and reluctantly said: "Jason, then under what circumstances should this dangerous method be used to take out the baby?"

  "If the fetus is not in the correct position, that is, if its feet are pointing down or it is lying horizontally inside, and also if the position is too low, a cesarean section should be used. In addition, if the amniotic fluid becomes turbid during delivery, this usually means that the fetus may face asphyxia."

  "Smothered?" The queen looked at Joo-ji-se with a curious expression, "Jason, you mean the baby is breathing inside my belly? This... how does it happen? Is there air in there?"

  "Through amniotic fluid, the fetus breathes in water." Zhu Jishi thought uncertainly: "Accidentally made a contribution to the progress of European medicine in 1843 again."

  "Breathing in water? That's just like a fish!" The queen exclaimed.

  "Hmm, that's indeed the case. The Creator has arranged it this way, but after the baby is born, they will soon lose this ability." Zhusi tried to explain.

  "It turned out to be so." The queen did not dig deep, but Albert on the side took note of Zhu's views and later found experts from the Royal Medical Society in Britain to study it specially.

  "Jason, I heard your pharmaceutical company is setting up in Manchester?" Prince Albert sipped his whiskey, "How's the factory setup going?"

  "Ah, very smooth." Zhu Jisheng said, "Not only a pharmaceutical factory, but also a rubber products factory."

  "Rubber products?"

  "It's this stuff," said Julius Fothergill, producing a pair of rubber gloves from his pocket and handing them to Albert. "These gloves are made of it; besides that, you can make carriage tires out of it, shoes, and contraceptives."

  "Condoms?" The queen interrupted and asked.

  "It's a sheath... worn on the man's thing, to prevent semen from entering the woman's body, achieving contraceptive purposes, of course not 100% safe."

  "This is quite a nice invention." The queen blushed and glanced at Prince Albert, "I think many people will need this thing, right, has it started selling now?"

  "It has started supplying to pharmacies, but the demand is not great." Zhu Jishi thought that in this era, there was no concept of "adult products", and the owners of general stores did not recognize this thing, so condoms could only be sold in British pharmacies for the time being, and sales were far from expected.