Mother, Nurse and Infant / A Manual Especially Adapted for the Guidance of Mothers and Monthly Nurses, Comprising Full Instruction in Regard To Pregnancy, Preparation for Child-birth, and the Care of Mother and Child, and Designed to Impart so Much Knowledge of Anatomy, Physiology, Midwifery, and the Proper Use of Medicines as Will Serve Intelligently to Direct the Wife, Mother and Nurse in All Emergencies.

by S. P. Sackett

A nervous pregnant woman is sometimes subject to PALPITATION OF THE HEART, especially when lying down. A small dose of aromatic ammonia will generally give relief.

If CRAMPS of the legs or thighs are troublesome, take F. 92, and tie a handkerchief around the limb, above the part affected, and let it remain a few minutes, and use friction. If cramp attacks the bowels or back, a hot bag of salt, or a stone bottle filled with hot water and wrapped in flannel, may be pressed against the part, and something similar should be placed to the sole of the feet.

If PRURITIS PUDENDI—irritation and itching of the external parts—are troublesome, use F. 195, 217, 220, and take frequently a tepid salt and water sitz bath, remaining but a short time in the bath. If the parts are hot and inflamed, and covered with an eruption, use either of the following lotions: F. 217, 195.

CHAPTER IV.
INSTRUCTIONS TO A WOMAN DURING THE LAST MONTH OF PREGNANCY.

1. Do not take too much exercise.—You may get relief from some of your ailments by lying down considerably during the day. If there is leucorrhœa (whites), strangury (a frequent inclination to void the urine), incontinence (an inability to hold the water), pain in the hips with numbness of the inferior (lower) extremities—if the veins of the leg become varicose—if there are anasarcous swellings of the inferior extremities—if there is a pendulous belly, the woman ought not to so exercise as to produce fatigue. She may get some relief by sitting or reclining in the way that is most agreeable.

2. Use means to harden the nipples.—Those women who have never had children ought to observe, before labor, whether there is a depressed condition of the nipples; whether they contract as the breasts increase in size. If they do, the condition can be corrected by wearing nipple shields on them. And to harden the nipples: For at least a month before labor, two or three times a day, rub them between the thumb and finger, and bathe them in tincture of myrrh or cologne water, in which a little alum has been dissolved. This will render the skin less sensitive, and avert the distress occasioned by the tenderness of the nipples. If there is especial reason to apprehend excoriated nipples, as there is when they are rough and nodulated like a strawberry or raspberry, make a solution of sulphate of zinc, one grain to the ounce of rosewater, in a wide-mouth bottle, and tilt the bottle upon the nipple, and allow it to remain there for a few minutes, several times every day (F. 198, 217.) It is necessary also to protect the part from the pressure of stays and the friction of the flannel vest. The stays may be removed entirely, or the nipple may be protected by laying a soft linen rag, wet with water and cologne, around it so that the pressure will not be directly on the nipple. If the breasts are swollen or painful, the soreness will subside of itself before the commencement of labor. It may be well, however, to foment them with flannel wrung out of hot water, and support them as in a sling by a broad handkerchief, passing over the opposite shoulder.

3. Pay no attention to the chilling and “horrifying tales of gossiping beldames.”—A cheerful flow of spirits which arises from the hope of a happy event, inspires a woman with activity and resolution, and is the best preparation for the pains of labor. Do not give way to gloomy and melancholy forebodings or indulge in idle reveries. Any person is your enemy who would exaggerate to you the dangers of labor; and let me here say to you, that if you read in this book of certain unfavorable contingencies, do not let your mind dwell upon them; they occur very rarely indeed, and I hope I have given such advice and instruction, and that you have been so cautious and careful that your chance is unusually favorable.

4. Do not expose yourself at this time to wet and cold.—Do not go out in bad weather, and do not go to theatres and other crowded places at all. You are especially liable at this time to renal difficulties, and if you take cold, it will cause congestion of the kidneys, and more or less urinary difficulty. It is easier to prevent such complaints than to cure them.

5. Take but little medicine.—In general you may rest in the hope that all your troubles will vanish after your confinement, and you can hardly hope to cure them sooner. But keep your bowels loose. If you cannot have daily passages by eating fruits, bread made from unbolted flour, or other laxative diet, take saline waters, compound licorice powder, etc., (F. 108.) If your bowels are constipated at the time that labor commences, take at that time an active cathartic (F. 109).

6. Seek and engage the best possible physician.—I do not know but the educated monthly nurse of the future may be well qualified to do all that is necessary in an ordinary natural parturition. But heretofore very few nurses trained in this country are thus prepared; perhaps the popular sentiment is against such an education. But you must always select a physician that you can confide in and trust if an operation is necessary, or there is unusual difficulty.