There can be no doubt that nervous and emotional disturbances are detrimental to the physical well-being of the patient in labor, also, and this fact alone is enough to warrant an effort to avert them. If the nurse appreciates the significance of the emotional influence and shapes her attitude and conduct accordingly, she will thereby help to increase the ease and safety of the actual delivery. Just what that attitude shall be, no one can say, for it must be developed, in each case, in such a way as to win the confidence and meet the needs of that particular patient. But in all cases the nurse should impress her patient with her sincere sympathy and appreciation of the fact that she, the patient, is going through a difficult time. Through it all the nurse must be cheerful, encouraging and optimistic; very gentle; very calm and reassuring in all that she does in preparing for the delivery. She must steadily increase the patient’s realization of the part which she herself must play in the effort which is being made to carry the event through to a happy issue. The occasion need not, should not, be a mournful one but it is often a very sacred one to the patient, and the nurse should be dignified, almost reverential in her bearing. If the patient feels secure in the belief that her ordeal is not being taken lightly; that it is being regarded seriously, as it merits, and that every known precaution is being taken, and taken confidently, to safeguard her and her baby’s welfare, her actual physical condition will be favorably affected by the condition of mind thus produced. And her patience and courage will often be strengthened if the nurse will explain, from time to time, the cause of certain conditions that normally arise, and which otherwise might give her alarm. It is the mysterious events, the unexpected and unexplained that so often terrify. This giving of comfort and strength to the variety of temperaments and mentalities which the nurse meets among her patients will involve a very sensitive adjustment of manner on her part, but it is one aspect of her duty, none the less, and one which will give her great satisfaction. FIRST STAGE Happily, the onset of labor is usually gradual, as has been described, and there is accordingly ample time during the first stage for deliberate and unhurried preparation for the birth of the baby. The character of the preparation and of the nurse’s assistance will vary greatly according to the wishes of the attending doctor; the duration of labor; the circumstances and condition of the patient, and whether she is at home or in a hospital.