=Immediate After-care of the Patient.= The patient should be bathed and dried about the thighs and buttocks, the vulva being bathed with alcohol or an antiseptic solution, and a sterile perineal pad applied. The douche-pan, wet towels, delivery pad and draw sheet are replaced by a dry draw-sheet and a towel or pad slipped under the patient’s hips, while a fresh nightgown is put on if the one worn during labor is wet or soiled. The perineal pad is very commonly held in place by a T. binder, with which all nurses are familiar, but some doctors prefer an abdominal binder to which a perineal strap is attached. This abdominal support may be a straight swathe or a Scultetus bandage, varying with the wishes of the doctor, and it may or may not be used in conjunction with a pad, so applied as to make pressure over the fundus. Other doctors forbid the application of any kind of a perineal dressing from the time of delivery, but instead, have a large, sterile pad slipped under the patient to receive the discharge. The patient is usually tired and cold at the conclusion of labor, and may even have a nervous chill. Although this chill is not serious, the patient is none the less uncomfortable, and she should be warmly covered, be given something hot to drink, and a hot-water bag placed at her feet. All possible effort must now be made to secure for her rest, quiet, and an opportunity to sleep. Every one but the doctor and the nurse had better be excluded from the room, which should be absolutely quiet, somewhat darkened and well ventilated. In addition to this, the majority of doctors now require that either they or the nurse shall stay with the patient and keep one hand resting on the fundus for at least an hour after delivery as a safeguard against post-partum hemorrhage. As long as the fundus is felt through the abdominal wall as a firm, hard mass, its irregularly arranged muscle fibres are contracted upon the blood vessels, and will prevent an escape of blood. But if the fundus feels soft and boggy, its muscles are relaxed, the constrictions are somewhat released from the open vessels, and serious bleeding may occur unless they are stimulated to contract again. =If the Doctor Is Delayed.= It sometimes happens that labor progresses with unexpected rapidity, or that the doctor is delayed in his arrival and the nurse is accordingly confronted with the emergency of being alone with the patient during part or all of the delivery. When the baby is making such rapid descent that the nurse fears it may be born before the doctor’s arrival, she may somewhat retard labor by covering her hand with a folded, sterile towel, if she has not had time enough to put on gloves, and hold back the head by pressing against the perineum during pains, at the same time instructing the patient to open her mouth, breathe deeply and try not to bear down. It is sometimes easier for the patient not to bear down if she lies on her side.