Advice to a wife and mother in two parts

by Pye Henry Chavasse

508. The next thing to be attended to is the way in which she ought to be dressed for the occasion. I would recommend her to put on her clean night-gown, which, in order to keep it clean and unsoiled, should be smoothly and carefully rolled up about her waist; then she ought to wear over it a short bed-gown reaching to the hips, and have on a flannel petticoat to meet it, and then she should put on a dressing-gown over all. If it be winter, the dressing-gown had better either be composed of flannel or be lined with that material. The stays must not be worn, as they would interfere with the progress of the labor.

509. The valances of the bed, and the carpet, and the curtains at the foot of the bed, had better all be removed; they are only in the way, and may get soiled and spoiled.

510. “The guarding of the bed.”—This is done in the following way: Cover the right side of the bed (as the patient will have to lie on her left side), with a large piece—a yard and a half square—of waterproof cloth, or bed-sheeting, as it is sometimes called, which is sold for the purpose;[^[93]] over this, folded sheets ought to be placed. If a waterproof cloth cannot be procured, an oil-cloth table-cover will answer the purpose. Either of the above plans will effectually protect the bed from injury.

511. The lying-in room should be kept not hot, but comfortably warm; if the temperature of the room be high, the patient will become irritable, feverish, and restless.

512. Every now and then, in order to change the air, let the door of the room be left ajar; and if, in the early periods of the labor, she should retire for awhile to the drawing-room, let the lying-in room window be thrown wide open, so as to thoroughly ventilate the apartment, and to make it fresh and sweet on her return. If the weather be very warm, the lower sash of the window may for a few inches be opened. It is wonderful how refreshing to the spirits, and how strengthening to the frame, a well-ventilated room is to a lying-in patient.

513. Many attendants are not only unnecessary but injurious. They excite and flurry the patient, they cause noise and confusion, and rob the air of its purity. One lady friend besides the doctor and the monthly nurse is all that is needed.

514. In making the selection of a friend, care should be taken that she is the mother of a family, that she is kind-hearted and self-possessed, and of a cheerful turn of mind. At these times all “chatterers,” “croakers,” and “potterers” ought to be carefully excluded from the lying-in room. No conversation of a depressing character should for one moment be allowed. Nurses and friends who are in the habit of telling of bad cases that have occurred in their experience must be avoided as the plague. If nurses have had bad cases, many of them have probably been of their own making; such nurses, therefore, ought on every account to be shunned.

515. During the progress of the labor, boisterous and noisy conversation ought never to be permitted; it only irritates and excites the patient. Although boisterous merriment is bad, yet at such times quiet, cheerful, and agreeable conversation is beneficial.

516. A mother on these occasions is often present; but of all persons she is the most unsuitable, as, from her maternal anxiety, she tends rather to depress than to cheer her daughter. Though the mother ought not to be in the room, it is, if practicable, desirable that she should be in the house. The patient, in the generality of cases, derives comfort from the knowledge of her mother being so near at hand.

517. Another preparation for labor is to soothe her mind by telling her of the usual safety of confinements, and by assuring her that, in the generality of instances, it is a natural process; and that all she has to do is to keep up her spirits, to adhere strictly to the rules of her doctor, and she will do well.