I happened to catch the end of a series called 'Royal Deaths and Diseases' which I hope will reach the USA & Canada in time. I've no idea how good it has been, but my mother in law told me the last one was to be on royal pregnancies. Much of it is not appropriate here as it also discussed Mary I and Queen Anne.

One particularly moving feature was the tale of Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold, a royal arranged marriage which turned into a love match. They were contemporary with JA (but younger). Their home is now a school and many interior scenes were shown including the room where Charlotte died in 1817 (I think she was the daughter of George IV). Anyway, the description of her labour was horrendous. At that time it was fashionable to have the new 'male midwives' (early obstetricians) instead of experienced female midwives to attend women in labour, and in Charlotte's case it was the wrong decision. One can certainly add childbirth horrors to Fanny Burney's mastectomy as one good reason why we should be glad not to have lived then.

Figures from the time show that wealthier women were more likely to die in childbirth than poorer women, and that the trend for 'male midwives' may have been the reason.

The programme went on to describe Queen Victoria's views on childbirth and experience (she made chloroform fashionable).

I recommend this programme very highly, and hope it's shown in the US and Canada soon.