Tillys Shelf | Pregnancy in Jane Austen's Novels @tillysshelf | Uploaded July 2024 | Updated October 2024, 8 hours ago.
This #janeaustenjuly I have found myself searching for references to pregnancy and early motherhood throughout Jane Austen's novels and letters.

Books mentioned:
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (chapters 26, 31, 36, 37, 43)
Emma by Jane Austen (chapters 6, 12, 17, 18)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (chapters 57, 60)
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (chapter 1)
I didn't identify any ongoing pregnancies in Northanger Abbey, Persuasion or Lady Susan but do please correct me if I'm wrong!
Jane Austen's Letters edited by Dierdre le Faye (letters 1, 7, 10, 11, 13)

Reference for infant mortality: campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/georgianinfantmortality
Reference for maternal mortality: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1633559 (I have seen several blogs stating that maternal mortality was as high as 20%, which it may well have been, but these were unreferenced. This article does mention higher maternal mortality figures for later in the 19th century).

Jane Austen July is a wonderful annual readathon hosted by Katie @katiejlumsden Marissa @BlatantlyBookish and Claudia @SpinstersLibrary.