Delivery

In a 10 minute survey of internet pages I see roughly half saying the doctor delivers and half saying the mother delivers.  I can see an argument for either.  In the end the mother does receive the baby.

I believe that originally, the mother was "delivered of child", rather than the child being delivered.  People lead busy lives, and take liberties with the language, resulting in an inelegant language, but not a bad thing overall.

Bob Heinlein wrote So the silly little wench was knocked up, which caused me to slip back into my baby-cotching, country-doctor persona, and I stayed up all night worrying about her and her brother and the baby they were going to have-unless I did something about it in"Time Enough For Love", but I have never found a dictionary with an appropriate definition for cotch or cotching to support that usage. OTOH, it's as obvious as when a guy sees an attractive woman, and says 'Wow!  What a set of NOUNs." No matter what NOUN he chooses, everyone knows he's referring to her mammary glands.

deaconB said

... which caused me to slip back into my baby-cotching, country-doctor persona, and I stayed up all night worrying about her and her brother and the baby they were going to have-unless I did something about it in"Time Enough For Love", but I have never found a dictionary with an appropriate definition for cotch or cotching to support that usage.

Alternate expectation / action association:  cotch / cooch _in reference to an infant or small child_ I experienced in my lifetime, with grandparents from Missouri of roughly the Admiral's -- or Lazarus / Woodrow's -- age and upbringing, to refer to the combination of playful tickling as combined with "baby-talk", cooing, cajoling, etc.  Cf. "cootchie-cootchie-coo" and related...

OTOH, it's as obvious as when a guy sees an attractive woman, and says 'Wow!  What a set of NOUNs." No matter what NOUN he chooses, everyone knows he's referring to her mammary glands.

Errrrr, Deacon?  There I will have to differ with you slightly -- I've known men who applied that phrase (or a near approximation) to the rear view of an attractive woman, either standing faced or walking away (as in "What a set of _buns_",  "... _gams_", legs, or -- a definite outlier / special-interest section -- feet / heels / peds / toes).  Have even heard something related ("pair" instead of "set", although often prefixed by "lovely") referring to knees, ears, hands, etc.

Yeah, most commonly, the version you describe.  Just not always. 

KiheBard said Alternate expectation / action association:  cotch / cooch _in reference to an infant or small child_

Would one need to return to the identity of a medico in order to dandle a child?  And would any responsible adult dandle a neonate?  A toddler, yeah, but in the context pf the story, Woody was worried because his slaves would become parents before he reached a maternity ward, Bob's overall point being that being a slaveowner is onerous for the ethical person.

KiheBard said Errrrr, Deacon?  There I will have to differ with you slightly -- I've known men who applied that phrase (or a near approximation) to the rear view of an attractive woman  

 I readily concede your point.