Advice to a wife and mother in two parts

by Pye Henry Chavasse

552. Until animation be restored, the navel-string, provided there be pulsation in it, ought not to be tied. If it be tied before the child has breathed, and before he has cried, he will have but a slight chance of recovery. While the navel-string is left entire, provided there be still pulsation in it, the infant has the advantage of the mother’s circulation and support.

553. If Dr. Marshall Hall’s Ready Method and if artificial respiration should not succeed, he must be immersed up to his neck in a warm bath of 98° Fahrenheit. A plentiful supply of warm water ought always to be in readiness, more especially if the labor be either hard or lingering.

554. Should the child have been born for some time before the doctor has arrived, it may be necessary to tie and to divide the navel-string. The manner of performing it is as follows: A ligature, composed of four or five whity-brown threads, nearly a foot in length and with a knot at each end, ought, by a double knot, to be tightly tied, at about two inches from the body of the child, around the navel-string. A second ligature must, in a similar manner, be applied about three inches from the first, and the navel-string should be carefully divided midway between the two ligatures. Of course, if the medical man should shortly be expected, any interference would not be advisable, as such matters ought always to be left entirely to him.

555. The after birth must never be brought away by the nurse: if the doctor has not yet arrived, it should be allowed to come away (which, if left alone in the generality of cases, it generally will) of its own accord. The only treatment that the nurse ought in such a case to adopt is, that she apply, by means of her right hand, firm pressure over the region of the womb: this will have the effect of encouraging the contraction of the womb, of throwing off the after birth, and of preventing violent flooding.

556. If the after birth does not soon come away, say in an hour, or if there be flooding, another medical man ought to be sent for; but on no account should the nurse be allowed to interfere with it further than by applying firm pressure over the region of the womb, and not touching the navel-string at all; as I have known dangerous, and in some cases even fatal, consequences to ensue from such meddling.

REST AFTER DELIVERY.

557. A lady ought never to be disturbed for at least an hour after the delivery; if she be, violent flooding might be produced. The doctor, of course, will make her comfortable by removing the soiled napkins, and by applying clean ones in their place.

558. Her head ought to be made easy; she must still lie on her side; indeed, for the first hour let her remain nearly in the same position as that in which she was confined—with this only difference, that if her feet have been pressing against the bedpost, they should be removed from that position.

CLOTHING AFTER LABOR.

559. She ought, after the lapse of an hour or two, to be moved from one side of the bed to the other. It ought to be done in the most tender and cautious manner. She must not, on any account whatever, be allowed to sit erect in the bed. While being moved, she herself should be passive—that is to say, she ought to use no exertion, no effort, but should, by two attendants, be removed from side to side; one must take hold of her shoulders, the other of her hips.