A difficult obstetrical case in a primipara, with a consultant called in by the first doctor is going slowly.
The infant is heard to cry once. Then:
"But often the great cat Fate lets us go only to
clutch us again in a fiercer grip. As minute after
minute passed and still no sound came from above save
those thin, glutinous cries, Johnson cooled from his
frenzy of joy, and lay breathless with his ears
straining."

What in hell are "glutinous" cries?

Sticky doesn't seem to quite hack it:

http://www.bartleby.com/61/10/G0161000.html

Well, I delivered about three dozen babies, and have heard all of them cry. Mostly holding them up by the heels, and spanking the little butt.Trite joke about the world being a cruel place, if you don't cry spontaneously, you get spanked until you do.
I should hope the little one was not gargling with amniotic fluid. That's the reason for holding the heels up.