Obstetrics for NursesReed, Charles B. (Charles Bert)
Science
Obstetrics for Nurses
Reed, Charles B. (Charles Bert)
Maternity nursing
Minor accidents also occur, such as fractures, dislocations, and
paralysis from injury to the nerve trunks.
_Management._—In the interest of the child, this presentation is
occasionally converted into a vertex by external version during the last
weeks of pregnancy or in labor before the membranes have ruptured. It is
difficult, however, to maintain the vertex over the inlet. The woman
must be kept quiet in a horizontal posture and long roller splints
applied to the side of the child in utero and bound on.
In primiparas, this is nearly impossible, and it is wiser, in the
absence of some great necessity to warn the parents of the conditions
and dangers and let them share in the responsibility.
[Illustration: Fig. 63.—Extraction of the breech. Traction on one leg.
(Hammerschlag.)]
When the labor begins, the bag of waters must be kept from rupture as
long as possible and when it finally breaks, an internal examination
should be made to see if the cord has come down. If this happens it may
be necessary to expedite the delivery by external assistance.
[Illustration: Fig. 64.—Breech delivery. Extraction of the trunk by
pulling on the hips. (Hammerschlag.)]
The doctor brings down a foot, if it is not already down, or pulls on
the breech until the feet drop out. Compression of the cord must be
always in mind. It is always compressed after the umbilicus has passed
the navel. The shoulders are delivered by seizing the feet with the
operating hand and swinging the body out of the way. This brings the
posterior shoulder, which should be first, into the hollow of the
pelvis. Extraction is then completed by what is called the Smellie-Veit
maneuver. The child is put astride one arm, the first finger of which is
hooked into the child’s mouth to maintain flexion. The fingers of the
other hand then grasp the shoulders of the child astride the back of the
neck and traction is made downward in the axis of the inlet until the
head slips into the excavation.
[Illustration: Fig. 65.—Breech delivery. Delivering the shoulder. The
body is swung strongly upward and outward to bring posterior shoulder
into the pelvis. (Hammerschlag.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 66.—The delivery of the after-coming head by the
Smellie-Veit maneuver. (Hammerschlag.)]
If the head is delayed at the inlet, it may be necessary to put the
woman in the Walcher position (q. v.) and for the nurse to use the
Wiegand compression (q. v.). The feet _must not_ be fastened in stirrups
for breech cases.
[Illustration: Fig. 67.—Shoulder presentation. Left-scapulo-anterior
position. (Lenoir and Tarnier.)]
Forceps are _not_ recommended for application to the breech as they do
not fit and are liable to slip off and injure both child and mother. The
fingers are best.
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