Surprise

In obstetrics, where the unusual is encountered every day and the extraordinary almost as often, doctors rarely hear of a case that causes them any surprise. Last week many an obstetrician lifted his eyebrows as he read of the case of Mrs. Rosa Bennick of Detroit.

Mrs. Bennick, 37, short (5 ft. 2 in.) and chunky (146 Ibs.) is a typist in a Detroit printing company. Nine months ago she began to feel nervous and went to see a doctor. He prescribed a sedative. She did not tell him of one thing that may have been worrying her: cessation of menstruation. She' had spoken to a neighbor who had told her it was probably due to an early menopause.

The day before New Year's, Typist Bennick asked to be excused from her job; she had a backache, suspected she had a cold. When she got home, her husband Felix, a machinist, suggested that she take a hot bath and get to bed.

She had not yet gotten to bed when she began to have abdominal cramps. Within a few minutes the cause of her illness, last May and this month, became apparent for the first time. In that few minutes, unattended by anyone but her husband, Mrs. Bennick gave birth to her first child, a seven-pound girl.

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