This month, we will be discussing two objects made by students of medicine, a tea cosy and a wall hanging. Both come from the maternity ward of the Helsinki general hospital. The maternity ward provided practical training on childbirth to candidates of medicine from 1833 onwards. A dedicated hospital for childbirth and gynaecological treatment as well as the practical study of gynaecology didn’t exist in Finland until the establishment of the Naistenklinikka Women’s Hospital in 1934.
![A blue tea cosy with an embroidered fetus on the side.](https://blogs.helsinki.fi/hum-object-of-the-month/files/2019/12/kuva1_HYM_pannumyssy-880x1024.jpg)