And love and nurture Youth!
Within her curving arm,
All safe and warm he lies,
The heir of all that Man has won
Down countless centuries!
[1]. Written expressly for “Obstetrical Nursing” by Carolyn Conant Van Blarcom.
CHAPTER VIII
THE BABY’S MOTHER
For the first week or two after the baby comes, you will be in bed, of course; your doctor will come in often and you will doubtless be cared for by a nurse devoted exclusively to you, or by a visiting nurse aided by members of your family. You will find that it is money well spent to keep the nurse, or someone else, to care for and help you, for six or eight weeks after the baby’s birth, or longer if possible.
Adequate care after childbirth accomplishes two important ends. It practically always averts such immediate complications as hemorrhage and infection and it prevents more or less chronic invalidism. Infection is prevented by the scrupulously clean care which is given to your breasts and perineum, while hemorrhage is avoided by keeping you quiet and closely watching the condition of the uterus. Later invalidism is prevented by the many precautions which enter into your general care. These relate to your position in bed, diet, fresh air, rest, exercise, bathing, attention to your bowels; observance of symptoms and conserving all of your forces while increasing your strength.
All of these details are important, for during the five or six weeks after confinement certain changes take place in your body which return it very nearly to its pre-pregnant state, and lack of watchful care while these changes are in progress may retard them and result in your being more or less permanently wretched.