CHAPTER XV
PREPARING FOR MOTHERHOOD
Menstruation—Irregular Menstruation—Changes in the Quantity of the Flow—How the Womb is Held in Place—Symptoms of Menstruation—Menstruation Should Not be Accompanied with Pain—Don't Give Your Daughters Patent Medicines or "Female Regulators"—Take Your Daughter to the Doctor—Leucorrhea in Girls—Bathing when Menstruating—Constipation and Displaced Wombs—Dress and Menstruation—Absence of Menstruation, or Amenorrhea—Treatment of Amenorrhea—Painful Menstruation, or Dysmenorrhea—Causes of Dysmenorrhea—Treatment of Dysmenorrhea—Sterility in the Female—Conditions Which Affect the Fertility of Women—Climate—Station in Life—Season of the Year—Age—The Tendency to Miscarry—Causes of Sterility in the Female—Displacement of Womb—Diseases of Womb, Ovaries, or Tubes—Malformations—Lacerations—Tumors—Leucorrhea—Physical Debility—Obesity—Special Poisons—"Knack of Miscarrying"—Miscarriage—Cause of Miscarriage—The Course and Symptoms of Miscarriage—What to do when a Miscarriage is Threatened—Treatment of Threatened Miscarriage—Treatment of Inevitable Miscarriage—After Treatment of Miscarriage—The Tendency to Miscarriage.
MENSTRUATION
We have explained in the previous chapter what menstruation is, its frequency, its significance and its origin. There are a number of its common characteristics with which the mother and daughter should be acquainted.
Irregular Menstruation.—Menstruation may occur once (the first time) and fail to recur the following month or for a number of months. This need cause no alarm as long as the general health remains good. It will come again in its own time. Nervousness may cause a suspension of menstruation. This is quite common in school girls who are driven too hard at school, whose sleep is interfered with, whose appetite is poor and who are allowed too many social indiscretions, as parties, dances, etc., where late hours are observed, all of which should be put aside until school life is over. Sometimes menstruation will temporarily stop if the girl goes away from home on a visit.
Sometimes the quantity will be greater than at other times, and a very scant flow, after it has been free and regular may cause apprehension. Various causes may be responsible for a decrease, catching cold, sitting on cold steps or cold ground, wearing damp clothes, nervousness, mental worry, physical exhaustion, insufficient food and exercise, and anemia, may cause it. For these reasons a girl should be exceedingly careful of her health, she should guard against catching cold. Do not change the underwear until certain that the weather is far enough advanced in season to justify such a change. She should not become exhausted or worry. In all cases of suppression, or of increased flow, a physician should be consulted at once, and girls should be instructed to tell their mothers of any change in the character of the "periods," as soon as it occurs. Mothers should instruct their daughters to rest the first day of their monthly flow, and all during the menstruation they should refrain from any unusual activity. Even play should be moderated and abstained from entirely if there is any pain. In order that the girl fully appreciates why these rules are laid down, it is advisable to explain just how the womb is held in place in her body.
This appears to the writer as being a particular important point. A girl must not be expected to give these matters the serious consideration they merit unless she thoroughly understands the reasons why. An explanation, in the form of even an intelligent talk, will soon be forgotten. If, however, a definite, concrete picture, is impressed upon her; if she actually sees in her mind the process that is going on, she will understand why it is necessary to do as she is told. If the mother will therefore assure herself that the daughter actually knows what is being accomplished in her womb at the menstrual period, she will carry out the instructions more faithfully.
How the Womb is Held in Place.—The human uterus, or womb, is held in its proper place in much the same way as a clothes pin sits on a clothes line. The heavier part is the upper part, and that part is held in place partly by resting on the rectum behind, and the bladder in front. When menstruation occurs, the body of the womb becomes much heavier because of the increased amount of blood in its interior. This added weight increases its liability to tip over, and if any extra strain or effort is made at this time it will become tipped, or as the physician calls it, displaced. If a womb becomes displaced, every menstruation afterward will be painful and prolonged,—sometimes excessively so. A displaced womb becomes congested and unhealthy. It causes leucorrhea or a chronic discharge, makes a nervous wreck of the woman, results in sterility and frequently in a dangerous operation. There are, therefore, ample reasons for watchfulness and care on the part of the growing girl.