thumb|"A Peasant Mother and her Twilight Sleep Boy" from Painless childbirth in twilight sleep : a complete history of twilight sleep from its beginning in 1903 to its present development in 1915, including its successful use in Great Britain to-day by Hanna Rion
Twilight sleep (English translation of the German word ) is an amnesic state characterized by insensitivity to pain with or without the loss of consciousness, induced by an injection of morphine and scopolamine, with the purpose of pain management during childbirth. The obstetric method originated in Germany and gained large popularity in New York City in the early 20th century.
Effects and usage
In the Freiburg technique, considered the gold standard of twilight birth, patients were first given an intramuscular injection of of scopolamine and of morphine. Forty five minutes later, a second scopolamine injection of the same dosage was administered. Because of how variable the scopolamine dosages are between patients, and the need for accurate assessment of performance on the memory test, the twilight sleep method required skillful, well-trained practitioners for proper execution.
To effectively keep women in an amnesic state, sensory isolation was necessary. Sensory deprivation also prevented delirium, one of the adverse side effects of scopolamine. The use of this combination to ease birth was first proposed by Austrian physician Richard von Steinbuchel in 1902, before being picked up and further developed by Carl Gauss and Bernhardt Kronig in Freiburg, Germany, beginning in 1903. A moving picture showing the procedure, one of the first medical movies, was also created and screened for interested women. Prominent NTSA member Mary Boyd's lectures about twilight sleep would draw crowds of nearly 300 women. She would end her lectures with the campaign's popular saying: “You women… will have to fight for it, for the mass of doctors are opposed to it.”
The campaign dwindled after one of its leaders, Frances X. Carmody, died of hemorrhage giving birth while using twilight sleep, though her husband and doctor asserted that her death was unrelated to the use of twilight sleep.