She was then bathed again, as before, and after this washed her infant herself, and dressed it the first time, and thereafter continued daily to take the care of it.
She took daily three baths in the wash-tub, the water always at about 70° Fah., and continued to wear the wet girdle and compresses night and day the whole of the first two weeks.
The first day she sat up half an hour, besides taking the baths. She could easily have remained up a large share of the time, but being among those who knew nothing of water-treatment, she preferred being on the safe side. The second day she sat up an hour, and felt well and strong. The first and second days she ate almost nothing. The third day she was up all the time, and took her meals with the family. The fourth day she walked out, and visited two families near. The fifth day she carried her child in her arms, walking with perfect ease a quarter of a mile, and feeling no fatigue. During the first days she had some trouble with swelling of the breasts. Cold water was poured upon them a good deal, and wet compresses worn. She also persevered much in drawing them herself with the tobacco pipe, and by these means conquered the difficulty readily. In three weeks she was able to travel alone with the infant, some 250 miles, to this city. She came first about four miles in a stage coach, thence by railroad to the steamboat, thence over night to the city, and then rode nearly or quite three miles over the rough pavements in the morning to her city home, it being just three weeks to a day from the birth of her infant.
This worthy and intelligent lady remarked, that she considered it her duty to make known to the world her experience in the water-treatment. She said “that many suppose they cannot avail themselves of the advantages of the new method, for the reason that they are not within the reach of a physician who is competent to practice it. But,” she continued, “there is not a lady in the whole United States who may not readily learn as much about it as I myself did. I gained all my knowledge from books, and had never for once conversed with any one who had gone through with the treatment in childbirth.” Great good must necessarily be accomplished if women will but read, understand, and practice, carefully and intelligently, for themselves.
Case XII.—A lady of delicate health and small stature, twenty-nine years of age, came to our establishment in the autumn of 1850, to be confined with her first child. On the 5th of November, considering herself within a week or ten days of confinement, she went, by my permission, in company with her husband, to hear Jenny Lind, at Tripler Hall. She slept well during the night after the concert, and at six the next morning she was awakened by pains resembling labor. These gradually increased until her child was born, a little after eleven in the forenoon, her labor being, on the whole, an easy one.
Two hours after the delivery she was taken up, and bathed thoroughly in a sitting-bath tub, the water at 70°. Being delicate, it caused her a good deal of shivering at the time; but this amounted to no harm, and usually occurs during a number of the first baths after delivery. At evening she was again bathed as before, and slept well during the night. Cold wet compresses were used freely, as according to our custom in such cases.
The second day, and onward, she was bathed four times—before breakfast, dinner, and supper, and on going to rest. She was able, also, to sit up more or less daily, and the first three days went on, in all respects, apparently well.
The fourth day, in the afternoon, there occurred a circumstance of ominous character, such as I hope it may be my lot seldom to encounter. I refer to the coming on of that most fearful malady, puerperal fever—the puerperal plague, as it has been appropriately called. The patient was already somewhat feverish, which was caused probably by the new excitement of milk in her system.
At the same time some relatives came to see her, it being the first time of their visiting her after the birth. They were in high glee, joking, talking, laughing, and making all manner of fun for a considerable time. All this transpired without my knowledge.
At the edge of evening, I found the patient in a most terrific fever; her flesh was very hot, face flushed, pains in the back, abdomen, and head; the pulse full and throbbing at 140 per minute. Judge my surprise at these phenomena, knowing, as I did, that the patient had been remarkably well in the morning; I had not yet learned of the excitement she had undergone during the afternoon.