Advice to a wife and mother in two parts

by Pye Henry Chavasse

365. Fainting.—A delicate woman, when she is enceinte, is apt either to feel faint or to actually faint away. When it is considered the enormous changes that, during pregnancy, take place, and the great pressure there is upon the nerves and the blood-vessels, it is not at all surprising that she should do so. There is one consolation, that although fainting at such times is disagreeable, it is not at all dangerous, unless the patient be really laboring under a disease of the heart.

366. Treatment.—If the patient feel faint, she ought immediately to lie down flat upon her back, without a pillow under her head; that is to say, her head should be on a level with her body. The stays and any tight articles of dress—if she has been foolish enough to wear either tight stays or tight clothes—ought to be loosened; the windows should be thrown wide open; water ought to be sprinkled on her face; and sal-volatile—a teaspoonful in a wineglassful of water, or a glass of wine ought to be administered. Smelling-salts must be applied to the nostrils. The attendants—there should only be one or two present—should not crowd around her, as she ought to have plenty of room to breathe.

367. She must, in the intervals, live on a good, light, generous diet. She should keep early hours, and ought to sleep in a well-ventilated apartment. The following strengthening medicine will be found serviceable:

Take of—Sulphate of Quinine, twelve grains;

Diluted Sulphuric Acid, half a drachm;

Syrup of Orange-peel, half an ounce;

Water, seven ounces and a half:

Two tablespoonfuls of the mixture to be taken three times a day.

If she be delicate, a change either to the country, or, if the railway journey be not very long, to the coast, will be desirable.

368. A nervous patient during this period is subject to palpitation of the heart. This palpitation, provided it occur only during pregnancy, is not dangerous; it need therefore cause no alarm. It is occasioned by the pressure of the pregnant womb upon the large blood-vessels, which induces a temporary derangement of the heart’s action. This palpitation is generally worse at night, when the patient is lying down. There is, at these times, from the position, greater pressure on the blood-vessels. Moreover, when she is lying down, the midriff, in consequence of the increased size of the belly, is pressed upward, and hence the heart has not its accustomed room to work in, and palpitation is in consequence the result.