In Bible times, not many women stepped out of their roles of wives and mothers, but one accepted role a woman could fulfil was that of a midwife.

Some women were even able to keep busy full-time helping new mothers.

A midwife was a woman's coach and comfort during delivery. She was also the one whose job it was to keep track (in the case of twins) of which baby was born first

It was the midwife who cut the umbilical cord, and then she rubbed the baby with salt or salt water. Then the baby was rubbed with olive oil and wrapped tightly in clean cloths.

Once the midwife handed the baby to the mother for the first feeding, her duties were over.

In Ex.1:18, during the Hebrew slave days, the Hebrew midwives were called before the Egyptian ones, as they would not obey the law to kill the newborn boys

Besides, the Israelite midwives were more skilled. In the book, "The Red Tent" it goes into great detail about how midwives functioned in that day and time. Very interesting.

BTW, thanks for all these little tid bits that you post. They are very interesting, and I look eagerly for new posts in this section.