- Instruments and sutures.
- Hypodermic tablets.
- Pituitrin and ergot, or ergotole.
- Gauze packs.
- Gloves and sterile gown.
- Rubber apron.
- Filtered, sterilized salt solution and infusion needles.
- Chloroform inhaler.
In planning the baby clothes, there are a few important factors to bear in mind. The clothes should be simple; not more than twenty-seven inches long; warm, but light in weight, and large enough to fit loosely. Like the dressings, complete layettes may be bought outright, but if the mother wishes to make the little garments herself, the following list will be found to provide an adequate supply of clothing for the new baby. (See also Fig. [159].)
For the Baby, Layette:
- 2 to 4 doz. diapers, preferably 18 in. square.
- 3 flannel bands, 6 or 8 inches wide and 27 in. long unhemmed.
- 3 shirts, size No. 2, of cotton and wool, silk and wool but not all wool.
- 4 flannel petticoats, Gertrude style.
- 4 flannel nightgowns or slips.
- 6 white slips.
- 3 knitted bands with shoulder straps, to use after the cord separates.
- Flannel kimono or square, one yard, to be used as extra wrap in cool room.
- Cloak and cap or other wrap for out-door use.
Additional Articles Which Are Needed or Useful in the Care of the Baby:
- Bath tub, tin, enamel, agate or rubber.
- Drying frames for shirts and stockings.
- Rubber bath apron.
- Flannel, or Turkish toweling bath apron.
- Low chair without arms.
- Low table.
- Screen to protect baby during bath.
- Rack upon which to hang clothes to warm during bath.
- Scales, with beam and basket and scoop, not the spring variety.
- Hot water bag and cover.
- Crib, basket or box, to be used as bed.
- Folded felt pad, blanket or hair pillow for mattress.
- Rubber or oilcloth to cover mattress.
- 6 crib sheets.
- 1 thermometer.
- 2 crib blankets.
- Soft towels and wash cloths.
- An old blanket to be used for bath blanket.
- 3 or 4 dozen safety pins, assorted sizes.
- Castile soap.
- Boric acid powder.
- Olive oil or albolene.
- Absorbent cotton pledgets, preferably sterile.
- Enamel pail and cover.
The above lists of dressings and articles for the baby can be considerably modified and still be satisfactory. The leaflet of “Advice for Mothers” issued by the Maternity Centre Association, New York City (see p. [429]), gives a somewhat curtailed list of equipment which proves to be adequate and within the means of most of the patients with whom the Association works.
It is usually a good plan for the nurse to advise the patient to have her dressings ready by about the end of the seventh calendar month, and the layette by the end of the eighth month. A baby born before this time would probably be so frail that it would be wrapped in cotton and not require the clothes ordinarily prepared for a full-term baby.
CHAPTER IX
COMPLICATIONS AND ACCIDENTS OF PREGNANCY
The prenatal care which was outlined in an earlier chapter becomes more impressive when one considers the disasters which it is designed to prevent. And the nurse will be more eager and able to watch her patient intelligently, and instruct her convincingly, if she appreciates and understands something of the conditions which she is helping to avert. She will give more effective nursing care, too, when complications do occur, if she gives it understandingly. In the toxemias, particularly, the importance of the nursing care looms large, for it is painstaking attention to details that makes this care so nearly a matter of life or death to the patient.