Niddah 6: Rabban Gamliel's Maidservant's Examinations for Menstrual Flow

Today's Gemara teaches about people's awareness of their own bodies and their concern about ritual impurity.  The Gemara describes an incident where Rabban Gamliel's maidservant was baking loaves of teruma bread.  She washed her hands with water and examined herself between each loaf. After the last loaf, the she found that she was ritually impure as her period had begun.  Che asked Rabban Gamliel about the status of the loaves, and he told her that they were all impure.  "My teacher," She said to him, "didn't I perform an examination in between each one?"  "if so," he replied, "that last is impure while all of the others are pure".  

Why would Rabban Gamliel first rule that his maid had made all of the teruma loaves impure and then change his mind and only object to the last loaf?  The Me'il Shmuel says that the maid likely did not mention that she examined herself between each batch of loaves.  She might have sounded surprised simply because she assumed that everyone knew that her practice was to examine herself in this way.  The Chatam Sofer said that the maid must have included the fact that she washed herself regularly.  However, he did not understand that she was checking herself for blood, as well.  When he realized that she was examining herself, he changed his ruling.  

The Gemara does not specify which Rabban Gamliel offered this ruling.  The Rashbam says that it was Rabban Gamliel HaZaken who lived in the time of the Temple and when this law was practiced.  Tosafot disagrees, saying that it might have been his son, Rabban Gamliel of Yavne.  Either way, the ruling was made "a long time ago".  Judaism seems to have always suffered from the "I wish we could be as devout as our ancestors".  Perhaps our ancestors were more devout, but perhaps they were just as conflicted and unpredictable in their observance as we are.