Twilight sleep (English translation of the German word Dämmerschlaf) is an amnesic condition characterized by insensibility to pain without loss of consciousness, induced by an injection of morphine and scopolamine, especially to relieve the pain of childbirth. This combination induces a semi-narcotic state which produces the experience of childbirth without pain, or without the memory of pain. The term 'Twilight Sleep' is also sometimes used to refer to modern intravenous sedation.
Famous quotes containing the words twilight and/or sleep:
“It is possible to believe that all the past is but the beginning of a beginning, and that all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn. It is possible to believe that all the human mind has ever accomplished is but the dream before the awakening.”
—H.G. (Herbert George)
“And the beauty
Of the moonlight
Falling there,
Falling
As sleep falls
In the innocent air.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)