Obstetrics for NursesReed, Charles B. (Charles Bert)
Science
Obstetrics for Nurses
Reed, Charles B. (Charles Bert)
Maternity nursing
In contracted pelves it is sometimes desired to furnish a special diet,
with the idea of controlling the size of the child (see Prochownick’s
Diet, p. 332) but this is an emergency. Certain books on maternity,
designed for popular reading, advocate diets that are supposed, by
depriving the child of lime salts, to keep its bones soft and make the
labor easy. If it succeeds, the child will be injuriously affected. If
it does not succeed, the claim is false.
=Exercise.=—Exercise should be taken, but it should not be violent, nor
attended by risk. Golf, swimming, tennis, dancing, horseback or bicycle
riding and fast driving in automobiles should be forbidden, lest
abortion follow. General exhaustion must be avoided and all conditions
that even approximate traumatism. Walking and slow driving are best, and
housework is excellent up to a mild degree of fatigue. Travel should be
restricted. If exercise is not feasible, massage will furnish the
required stimulation to the circulation. The menstrual epochs are
peculiarly favorable to abortive influences.
=The Bowels.=—Most women have a tendency to constipation during
pregnancy. Many times this can be corrected by increasing the
“roughening” in the food; more vegetables and fruits, bran bread and
muffins, whole wheat bread, spinach, beans, carrots, turnips, peas and
especially potatoes, baked and eaten, skin and all. Prunes, figs, and
dates are valuable aids. Agar may be eaten three or four times daily.
Russian oil (liquid petrolatum), taken in tablespoon doses three times
daily, is an adjuvant, and finally, some form of cascara or aperient
pill may be taken, if necessary.
Violent cathartics should not be used at all, and enemas as little as
possible; only when _quick_ results are necessary.
=Heartburn.=—Heartburn is a frequent complication, especially in the
later months. It is due to an inordinate secretion of acid in the
stomach. Soda mint tablets, bicarbonate of soda, and magnesia, in cake
or as milk of magnesia, will relieve. The magnesia is also a laxative.
=The kidneys= require particular care during pregnancy, and in every
case the urine should be examined monthly, up to the fifth month, and
every two weeks thereafter, until the last six weeks, when a weekly test
should be made.
The amount passed in twenty-four hours should be measured. Three pints
is an average quantity. Albumin, sugar, and casts must be looked for and
reported. Albumin may or may not be a serious symptom. Casts are
significant of nephritis and indicate danger. Sugar may be lactose and
be derived from the milk secreted in the breast. Edema of feet, hands
and eyelids must always be investigated, with the possibility in mind,
of heart and kidney lesions. Blindness, dizzy spells, headaches and
spots before the eyes are always alarming symptoms until their innocence
is established.
Through constant watchfulness of the urine, many cases of eclampsia may
be averted.
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