Honey, molasses, sugar, butter, oil, vinegar, etc., when unadulterated, are entirely free from earthy matter. Common salt, pepper, coffee, cocoa, spices, and many drugs are much worse than wheaten flour in their hardening and bone-forming tendency, and should therefore be avoided. The drink should be tea or lemonade made with water, soft and clear, and, when practicable, distilled.
No mother who has adopted this mode of living but has blessed the knowledge of it, and it has saved many a young mother from needless terror.
In the third month of pregnancy, but not before, the belly begins to enlarge or swell, and gradually increases in size till the full term of pregnancy is completed. Between the sixteenth and twentieth week the womb rises up into the belly, and the motion of the child is felt, which is called
QUICKENING.
The first time a woman is with child this sensation of quickening is like that of a bird fluttering within her; at other times she feels a tickling or pushing sensation, or the child gives a kick or a jump, and this, too, with so much energy as to move the petticoats, a book, or any light article she may have in her lap.
It is important to remember these symptoms, and the order in which they occur: first, cessation of the menses; second, morning sickness; third, swelling and darting pains in the breast, and dark color around the nipples; fourth, gradual enlargement of the abdomen or belly; fifth, the movement of the child.
In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, if these symptoms are present the woman is pregnant. Pregnant women are generally affected with heartburn, sickness of a morning, headache, and that troublesome disease, toothache, which accompanies pregnancy; all of which may usually be avoided by keeping the bowels gently open with seidlitz powders, caster oil, or pills of rhubarb, which should be taken occasionally, either alone or in combination with colocynth and soap. A clyster made of warm soapsuds will often be sufficient if repeated every few days; or senna and manna; and if there is any aversion to taking medicine, give some simple articles, such as roasted apples, figs, prunes, or anything that will quiet the stomach and prevent costiveness of the bowels.
THE TOOTHACHE
often complained of by pregnant women, and which may occur at any period, is seldom relieved by extraction, having its seat in the adjacent nerves of the face or jaws, and is neuralgic. The teeth ought not to be drawn during pregnancy, unless urgently required, but should be relieved by applying hot fomentations to the face, as a camomile poultice. Rubbing the jaw externally with spirits of camphor or laudanum, or applying mustard plasters or blisters behind the ears, will afford relief.