Frozen transverse cross-section of a uterus from multigravida [twin] at the thirty-sixth week.

No contractions have occurred, and the cervix is unshortened, indicating birth was not imminent. Death from eclampsia.

In twin pregnancies, there is an increased risk of eclampsia and pre-eclampsia, and delivery is often induced before the due date, either by the body itself, or by an obstetrician. In addition to the increased risk of eclampsia, multigravida pregnancies are at risk for many other adverse events during development and delivery, and as such are treated as “high-risk” pregnancies, even if the mother and fetuses are both perfectly healthy.

The Practice of Obstetrics. J. Clifton Edgar, 1907.

Common Sites of Postpartum Hemorrhage

One of the many ways to die in the puerperal period. Luckily, most hemorrhages can be stopped if the mother gives birth in a hospital setting, and the death rate from them is far lower than it once was

The Practice of Obstetrics, Designed for the Use of Students and Practitioners of Medicine. J. Clifton Edgar, 1907.

Toxemia of Pregnancy [this liver damage caused by HELLP Syndrome - “hemolysis, elevated liver enzyme, low platelets”]

You can see the breakdown of the liver where incoming toxins and dead tissues are taken up to be processed (around the central vein, which is in the center of that deeper red area at the bottom). When the liver is overwhelmed by all the incoming toxins and dead cells, the liver cells themselves start to die, as they’re destroyed by what they’d normally be able to neutralize. This liver lobule still had normal liver cells on the surface, but would have had little to no processing ability to eliminate toxins in the blood. When the liver fails, death is often not far behind.

The Practice of Obstetrics, Designed for the Use of Students and Practitioners of Medicine. J. Clifton Edgar, 1907.