He comes—she clasps him; to her bosom pressed,
He drinks the balm of life, and drops to rest.”
519. The doctor, too, will be able to administer comfort to her when he has “tried a pain” or has “taken a pain,” as it is called, and when he can assure her that it “is all right and straight”—that is to say, that the child is presenting in the most favorable position, and that everything is progressing satisfactorily. He will, moreover, be able to inform her of the probable duration of the labor.
520. Let me in this place urge upon the patient the importance of her allowing the medical man to inquire fully into her state. She may depend upon it that this inquiry will be conducted in the most delicate manner. If there be anything wrong in the labor, it is in the early stage, and before the “waters have broken,” that the most good can be done. If a proper examination be not allowed to the medical man whenever he deems it right and proper (and a judicious doctor will do it as seldom as he can), her life, and perhaps that of her child, might pay the penalty of such false delicacy.
521. French brandy, in case it is wanted, ought always to be in the house; but let me impress upon the minds of the attendants the importance of withholding it, unless it be ordered by the doctor, from a lying-in woman. Numbers have fallen victims to brandy being indiscriminately given. I am of opinion that the great caution which is now adopted in giving spirits to women in labor is one reason, among others, of the great safety of the confinements of the present day, compared with those of former times.
522. The best beverage for a patient during labor is either a cup of warm tea, or of gruel, or of arrow-root. It is folly in the extreme, during the progress of labor, to force her to eat: her stomach recoils from it, as at these times there is generally a loathing of food, and if we will, as we always ought to, take the appetite as our guide, we shall never go far wrong.
523. A patient during labor ought frequently to make water; by doing so she will add materially to her ease and comfort, and it will give the adjacent parts more room, and will thus expedite the labor. I wish to call attention to this point, as many ladies, especially with their first children, have, from false delicacy, suffered severely from not attending to it; one of the ill effects of which is inability after the labor is over to make water without the assistance of the doctor, who might in an extreme case deem it necessary to introduce a catheter into the bladder, and thus to draw the water off.
524. I recommended, in a previous paragraph, that the doctor ought to have either the drawing-room or a bedroom to retire to, in order that the patient may, during the progress of the labor, be left very much to herself, and that thus she may have full opportunities, whenever she feels the slightest inclination to do so, of thoroughly emptying either her bladder or her bowels. Now, this advice is of very great importance, and if it were, more than it is, attended to, would cause a great diminution of misery, of annoyance, and suffering. I have given the subject great attention; as I have had large experience in midwifery practice; I therefore speak “like one having authority,” and if my advice in this particular be followed, this book will not have been written in vain.
525. If the patient, twelve hours after the labor, and having tried two or three times during that time, is unable to make water, the medical man ought to be made acquainted with it, or serious consequences might ensue.