Quite evidently, then, it means a great deal to the expectant mother to have the doctor discover and treat these complications before they have had time to become serious. But he can give early treatment only if he knows about the symptoms of the trouble when they first appear. Some of these symptoms may be detected by the expectant mother herself after they have been explained to her, but some of them can be discovered only by a doctor or a nurse. That is why it is important for the doctor to see his patient at frequent intervals during pregnancy; about once a month during the first half and every two weeks afterwards. He sees her for much the same reasons that the housewife looks over the contents of her darning basket—not once and for all time, but regularly, once a week, over and over and over. She searches each time not for holes alone, but for thin places, too; an occasional broken thread or the beginning of a “run,” knowing how much trouble she will save herself, later on, by promptly repairing the smallest break or evidence of wear. She knows quite well that there are no more holes because she looks for them, than there are if she does not, and that failure to look for them will not keep the holes from being there nor from growing larger. No more does the expectant mother develop a complication because she is examined, nor does an existing condition cease to exist because she is not examined; and yet some women still take just that illogical attitude toward examinations and supervision during pregnancy. One factor which keeps some expectant mothers from seeking medical care is the well-meaning but dangerous counsel so freely offered by older women who claim fitness to advise by virtue of having had several children of their own. Their lack of success, as evidenced by miscarriages, stillbirths, children dying in early infancy, as well as injuries and disabilities of their own, is usually overlooked as they press their superstitions and remedies upon the inexperienced and bewildered younger woman. When disaster follows, as it so often does, it is very likely to be ascribed to the will of God, and the mother’s needless sacrifice does not even serve as a warning to others who are in line for the same kind of advice. Another obstacle to adequate prenatal care is sometimes found in the husband who considers it entirely reasonable to secure expert advice upon the subject of cattle-raising, let us say, or the care and running of his automobile or about his investments, but who has a conviction that it is normal and natural for women to have children without making what he considers a fuss about it. He may cherish, too, a suspicion that it is not altogether good for his wife to be thinking too much about her condition. His mother never began bothering until the baby came.