I just talked with my relative who's mother, Paula Castanon (1896) was 
the midwife, she said her mom would help the Dr. in there town near 
Fresno Ca. for births and that was in the 20's, 30's and 40's. She 
also mentioned that here stateside we get 6 weeks pregnancy leave... 
that's 42 days so is it just an old world custom?  

She also said her Mom did ventosas. People would come to her home when 
they had muscular problems. She was good at massaging backs, arm and 
ankle sprains and she also used special herbs but my relative couldn't 
remember what they were.. I had never heard that word before so I'm 
still learning!

Linda in Wa.