Prenatal Care. Death in childbirth and infant mortality were common. The average number of children born to a husband and wife is unknown, but typically two to four children per family survived early childhood. Women sought protection for themselves and their unborn infants through the magical powers of amulets, herbal potions, rituals, and incantations. During the first millennium B.C.E. a pregnant woman might wear an amulet shaped like the head of the dog-faced demon Pazuzu to chase away the goddess Lamashtu, the daughter of the sky god Anu. Represented as having the head of a lion, the teeth of a donkey, naked breasts, a hairy body, stained hands, and long fingers and fingernails as well as bird talons, Lamashtu was believed to slip into the house, where she might cause a miscarriage or a crib death. She was...