Personally I have known several eight months’ babies to live and do well, and I believe that their chance of life is much greater than if born at seven months.
Position of the fetus.—The fetus usually lies with the head downward, the chin resting upon the breast. The feet are bent in front of the legs, the latter flexed upon the thighs. The knees are separated from each other, but the heels lie close together on the back of the thighs; the arms are crossed upon the breast, so placed that the chin can rest upon the hands.
In this way it forms an oval, whose longest diameter is about eleven inches. This is the usual position, yet it often varies from it.
CHAPTER III.
PREGNANCY—SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS.
The signs of pregnancy are physiological and pathological; physiological, those common to all women; pathological, those which are the result of and accompany diseased conditions.
Of the physiological, the four principal ones are cessation of menstruation, increase of size, quickening, and the fetal heart beat.
Cessation of menstruation in a married woman may ordinarily be considered a sign that conception has taken place. Yet suppression may be the result of cold, of inflammation, of some chronic uterine diseases, more especially dropsy or tumors, also of any slow, wasting disease like scrofula, consumption and diarrhea.
Occasionally, too, women menstruate during the entire time of gestation. This, without doubt, is an abnormal condition, and should be remedied, as disastrous consequences may result. Also, women have been known to bear children who have never menstruated.
Pregnancy seldom takes place where menstruation has never occurred, yet it frequently happens that women never menstruate from one pregnancy to another. In these cases this symptom is ruled out for diagnostic purposes.
Increase of size begins to be experienced at about the third month, when the uterus enlarges and rises above the brim of the pelvis. Any enlargement previous to this time must be due to bloating, flatulence or excess of fat, to which some are inclined in gestation. This sign, taken alone, can not be relied upon as diagnostic. It may be occasioned by various causes, and often accompanies the very same conditions attending menstrual suppression. Instances occur in every town and neighborhood where women have made elaborate preparations for confinement, only to be disappointed by finding they were suffering from some serious disease causing suppression.