The Mother and Her Child

by William S. Sadler; Lena K. Sadler

SANITARY PREMISES

In both the country and city place, yards and alleys should be cleaned up. Garbage—the great breeding place of flies—should be removed or burned. The manure pile of the stable or alley should also be properly covered and cared for. In this way breeding places for flies are minimized and millions and billions of unhatched eggs are destroyed. In the large cities, provision is made for the prompt disposal of garbage, and laws are beginning to be enforced regarding the covering and the weekly removal of manure, and thus in many of our large cities flies are diminishing in numbers each year. Fly campaigns and garbage campaigns are teaching us all to realize the dangers of infection, contagion, and disease as a result of filth; while through the schools, the children of even our foreign tongued neighbors take home the spirit of "cleaning up week." Even in the rural districts we hope for the dawning of the day when filth, stagnant pools, open manure piles, and open privies, will be as much feared as scorpions or smallpox.

ENGAGING THE DOCTOR

As suggested elsewhere, as soon as the expectant mother is aware that she is pregnant, she should engage her physician. And since these are days of specialists, he may or may not be the regular family doctor. The husband and friends may be consulted, but the final choice should be made by the prospective mother herself. "The faith which casts out fear, the indefinable sense of security which she feels in her chosen physician, supports her through the hours of confinement." Twenty-four hour specimens of urine should be saved and taken to the physician twice each month and oftener during later months of pregnancy. The chosen physician's instructions and suggestions should be carried out and counsel should be sought of him as to the place of confinement.

THE PLACE OF CONFINEMENT

There are a number of factors that enter into the selection of the place of confinement. In the first place, if the home be roomy, bathroom convenient, if the required preparation of all necessities for the day of labor can be effected, and it is further possible to prepare a suitable delivery-room at home with ample facilities for emergencies and complications, and you can persuade your physician to do it—then the best place in the world for the mother to be confined is within the walls of her own home. But such is the case in but one home out of hundreds, and I regret that time and space will not allow me to describe and portray the many untimely deaths that might have been avoided if this or that supply had only been ready at the moment of the unexpected complication of delivery. Why should we needlessly risk the lives of prospective mothers, when, in every up-to-date hospital delivery-room, all these life-saving facilities are freely provided? Here in the modern hospital, the mothers from small homes and apartments, the mothers who live in stuffy basements, as well as those from the average home in the average neighborhood, can come with the assurance of receiving the best possible care and attention. Every woman who can arrange or afford it, should plan to avail herself of the benefits, comforts, quietness, and calm of a well-equipped hospital and the surgical cleanliness and safety of its aseptic delivery-room.

Fortunately, the mother of the basement home may have the same clean, sterile dressings used upon her as does the mother of the boulevard mansion. The maternity ward bed at $8.00 to $10.00 a week can be just as clean as the bed of the $40.00 a week room. The methods and procedures of the delivery-room can be just as good in the case of the very poor woman as in the case of the magnate's wife. In no way and for no reason fear the hospital. It is the cleanest, safest, and by far the cheapest way. The weekly amount paid includes the board of the patient, the routine care, and all appliances and supplies of every sort that will be used. Under no circumstances should a midwife be engaged. Any reputable physician or any intellectual minister will advise that. Let your choice be either the hospital or the home; but always engage a physician, never a midwife.

THE NURSE

After selecting the place of confinement, the question of the nurse may next be considered. If it is to be the hospital, you need give little further thought to the nurse, for your physician will arrange for the nurse at the time you enter the hospital. She will be a part of the complete service you may enjoy. You will find her on duty as you, quietly resting in your room, awaken in the sweet satisfaction that at last it is all over—at last your baby is here.

A competent nurse is a necessity, if the confinement takes place in the home. She may be a visiting nurse, who, for a small fee, will not only come on the day of labor, but will make what is known as "post-partum calls" each day for ten or twelve days. These are short calls, but are long enough to clean up the mother and wash and dress the babe. She is not supposed to prepare any meals or care for the home. Then there is the practical nurse—women who have prepared themselves along these lines of nursing, whose fees range from $12.00 to $18.00 a week. If your physician recommends one to you, you may know she is clean and dependable. The trained nurse, who has graduated from a three years' course of training, is prepared for every emergency, and will intelligently work with the physician for the patient's welfare and comfort. Her fees range from $25.00 to $35.00 a week.