Both the practical and the trained nurses are human beings, and require rest and sleep the same as all other women do. One nurse, after having faithfully remained at her post of duty some sixty hours reminded the husband and sister of the patient that she must now have five hours of unbroken rest and they replied in a most surprised manner, "Why we are paying you $30.00 a week, and besides, we understood you were a trained nurse."
The physician usually makes arrangement with the family for competent relief for the nurse. She should have at least one to two hours of each day for an airing, and six hours out of the twenty-four for sleep.
PREPARATIONS FOR A HOME DELIVERY
The supplies should all be in the home and ready, as the seventh month of pregnancy draws near. In the first place, select the drawer or closet shelf where the supplies are to remain, untouched, until your physician orders them brought out. The supplies requiring special preparation and sterilization are:
| Three pounds of absorbent cotton. | Twelve old towels or diapers. |
| One large package of sterile gauze (25 yards). | One yard of strong narrow tape for tying the cord. |
| Four rolls of cotton batting. | Three short obstetrical gowns for the patient. |
| Two yards of stout muslin for abdominal binders. | Two pairs of extra long white stockings. |
| Two old sheets. | Four T-binders. |
Other articles needed by physician, nurse, and patient are:
| Fifty bichloride of mercury tablets (plainly marked "poison"). | One good sized douche pan. |
| Four ounces of lysol. | Three agateware bowls, holding two quarts each. |
| Two ounces of powdered boric acid. | Two agateware pitchers, holding two quarts each. |
| One half ounce of 20% argyrol. | Two stiff hand-brushes. |
| One quart of grain alcohol. | One nail file. |
| One pound jar of surgeon's green soap. | One pair surgeon's rubber gloves. |
| One half pound of castile soap. | One and one-half yards rubber sheeting 36 inches wide. |
| One bottle white vaseline. | Two No. 2 rubber catheters. |
| One drinking tube. | Two dozen large safety pins. |
| One medicine glass. | Small package of tooth picks, to be used as applicators. |
| One two-quart fountain syringe. | Six breast binders ([Fig. 5]). |
| One covered enamel bucket or slop jar. | Six sheets. |
Just before confinement send for one ounce of fluid extract of ergot and an original pint bottle of Squibb's Chloroform.
THE PREPARATION OF THE SUPPLIES
1. The sanitary pad is used to absorb the lochia after confinement, and needs to be changed many times during the day and night; fully five or six dozen will be required. They are usually made from cotton batting and a generous layer of absorbent cotton. If made entirely from absorbent cotton they mat down into a rope-like condition. They are four and one-half to five inches wide and ten inches long. The sterile cheesecloth is cut large enough to wrap around the cotton filling and extends at both ends three inches, by which it is fastened to the abdominal binder. With a dozen or fifteen in each package these vulva pads are wrapped loosely in pieces of old sheets and pinned securely and marked plainly on the outside.