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Perhaps you have already
heard from Mrs. Fraser of Relicks friends that she
was safely deliver'd of a son on Monday last the 6th.
Current- Till then she had been nearly in the state I
describ'd to you in my last. Her Labour was short &
she had a pretty easy delivery. For the first two
days she had no particular Complaint, but often pains
which however brought away several clots, & the Lochial
discharge was natural & sufficiently plentifull. She
had come to a Resolution, from which she could not be
diverted, of nursing the Child; he was therefor put to
her breasts on the second day, & ↑she↑ has continued to suckle
him since - without having had any considerable degree
of Milk fever - the Milk coming pretty freely from
both breasts - but for two or three days she has had
a return of the pain of her side with a short trifling

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Cough at times, and this morning a slight degree of
the breathlessness. She has not had any spitting of blood
since her delivery, but yesterday morning, her nose
bled a little. She has no unusual heat on her skin
& her pulse is about 80 in a Minute. The pain
of her side et cetera I suppose have been occasion'd by
her being frequently oblig'd to sit up, sometimes when
her skin was moist in order to give the Child suck,
and it was the Apprehension of her being in danger
of catching cold in this way that made me wish
to disswade her from Nursing. I was very well
satisfied & even desirous to bring her breasts to
run freely & to have them suck'd regularly for
sometime as the best means of removing the old
Obstruction in one of them & preventing any such in
future, but I'm much affraid the fatigue of Nursing
will be too great for her delicate state of health.
She is naturally of an Anxious temper, by no means
a proper one for a Nurse, & if the child should be, as
must be expected, frequently fretfull from gripes or any

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slight Indisposition, the cold she may take in the
Winter nights upon such occasions I fear would be
attended with very serious consequences. She knows
now that I have Corresponded with you about her
health, & she promis'd me this morning before I left
her to be determined by your Opinion with respect
to Nursing. Be so good therefor as let me hear
from you upon this subject, & please to mention
any thing that occurs as proper in the way
of Regimen or otherwise, in case her former
Complaints should recur & become troublesome {illeg}

I always am with much respect

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Dr Wm. Cullen
Physician
at Edinburgh

✍

Dr Alves Concerning
Mrs. Fraser
Septr. 1784
V. XVI. p174