'I would not feel the pain if I were with you': Catalina Micaela and the Cycle of Pregnancy at the Court of Turin, 1585-1597

Using the correspondence of Catalina Micaela (1567–97), Duchess of Savoy, with her husband, Carlo Emanuele I as evidence, this article examines an early modern aristocratic woman's experience of and attitudes about pregnancy, childbirth, lactation and menstruation. Her letters reveal that some early modern women closely monitored their bodies and from their observations were able to detect pregnancy early—earlier than many scholars have thought—and to calculate their delivery dates with some precision. Her example also shows that their husbands and fathers could be closely involved in the world of pregnancy and childbirth and that, while other scholars have argued that the lying-in period empowered and liberated women, Catalina remained tied to her political responsibilities and was expected to return to her duties immediately after giving birth. Catalina's well-documented experience thus both enlarges and in some cases challenges the scholarly understanding of early modern pregnancy, childbirth and the confinement period.

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