Advice to a wife and mother in two parts

by Pye Henry Chavasse

223. The next symptom is morning sickness. This is one of the earliest symptoms of pregnancy; as it sometimes occurs a few days, and indeed generally not later than a fortnight or three weeks, after conception. Morning sickness is frequently distressing, oftentimes amounting to vomiting, and causing a loathing of breakfast. This sign usually disappears after the first three or four months. Morning sickness is not always present in pregnancy; but, nevertheless, it is a frequent accompaniment; and many who have had families place more reliance on this than on any other symptom.

224. A third symptom is shooting, throbbing, and lancinating pains, and enlargement of the breasts, with soreness of the nipples, occurring about the second month; and in some instances, after the first few months, a small quantity of watery fluid, or a little milk, may be squeezed out of them. This latter symptom, in a first pregnancy, is valuable, and can generally be relied on as conclusive that the female is pregnant. It is not so valuable in an after pregnancy, as a little milk might, even should she not be pregnant, remain in the breasts for some months after she has weaned her child.

225. The veins of the breast look more blue, and are consequently more conspicuous than usual, giving the bosom a mottled appearance. The breasts themselves are firmer and more knotty to the touch. The nipples, in the majority of cases, look more healthy than customary, and are somewhat elevated and enlarged; there is generally a slight moisture upon their surface, sufficient in some instances to mark the linen.

226. A dark-brown areola or disk may usually be noticed around the nipple,[^[53]] the change of color commencing about the second month. The tint at first is light brown, which gradually deepens in intensity, until, toward the end of pregnancy, the color may be very dark. Dr. Montgomery, who has paid great attention to the subject, observes: “During the progress of the next two or three months the changes in the areola are in general perfected, or nearly so, and then it presents the following characters: a circle around the nipple, whose color varies in intensity according to the particular complexion of the individual, being usually much darker in persons with black hair, dark eyes, and sallow skin, than in those of fair hair, light-colored eyes, and delicate complexion. The area of this circle varies in diameter from an inch to an inch and a half, and increases in most persons as pregnancy advances, as does also the depth of color.” The dark areola is somewhat swollen. “There is,” says Dr. Montgomery, “a puffy turgescence, not only of the nipple, but of the whole surrounding disk.”

227. A fourth symptom is quickening. This generally occurs about the completion of the fourth calendar month; frequently a week or two before the end of that period; at other times a week or two later. A lady sometimes quickens as early as the third month, while others, although rarely, quicken as late as the fifth, and, in very rare cases, the sixth month.

228. It will therefore be seen that there is an uncertainty as to the period of quickening, although, as I before remarked, the usual period occurs either on, or more frequently a week or two before, the completion of the fourth calendar month of pregnancy.

229. A lady at this time frequently either feels faint, or actually faints away; she is often either giddy, or sick, or nervous, and in some instances even hysterical. Although, in rare cases, some women do not even know the precise time when they quicken.

230. The sensation of “quickening” is said by many ladies to resemble the fluttering of a bird. “Quickening” arises from the ascent of the womb higher into the belly, as, from its increased size, there is not room for it below. The old-fashioned idea was that the child was not alive until a woman had quickened. This is a mistaken notion, as he is alive, or “quick,” from the very commencement of his formation.

231. Hence the heinous and damnable sin of a single woman, in the early months of pregnancy, using means to promote abortion: it is as much murder as though the child were at his full time, or as though he were butchered when he was actually born!

232. An attempt, then, to procure abortion is a crime of the deepest dye, viz., a heinous murder! It is attended, moreover, with fearful consequences to the mother’s own health; it may either cause her immediate death, or it may so grievously injure her constitution that she might never recover from the shock. If these fearful consequences ensue, she ought not to be pitied: she richly deserves them all. Our profession is a noble one, and every qualified member of it would scorn and detest the very idea either of promoting or of procuring an abortion; but there are unqualified villains who practice the damnable art. Transportation, if not hanging, ought to be their doom. The seducers, who often assist and abet them in their nefarious practices, should share their punishment.