Caesarean sections have been around for thousands of years, but until fairly recently, they were only performed on pregnant women who had died or were very close to death, in order to give the baby a last-ditch chance. Beginning in the late 19th century, new techniques such as antiseptics, uterine sutures, and anesthetics began to make C-sections survivable. But who was the first mother to survive a caesarean section?
It has been said that Julius Caesar was born by caesarian section, hence the name. But there's no evidence of that at all, and the story may have arisen because of the name. There was a case in the early 1500s of Jacob Nufer, a Swiss veterinarian who cut his wife open after days of labor, and she survived to have more children. However, the earliest account of that case came eighty years afterward, and we don't know how true it is. A better documented account was even earlier in 1337, when Beatrice of Bourbon produced a child who would become Wenceslaus I of Bohemia, known to us as "good king Wenceslaus." We have contemporary accounts of that birth, including letters from Beatrice herself, although they are somewhat enigmatic for political reasons. Read about those early accounts of surviving a caesarian section at Amusing Planet.
(Image credit: Wellcome Collection)