The Four Epochs of Woman's Life; A Study in HygieneGalbraith, Anna M. (Anna Mary)
Science
The Four Epochs of Woman's Life; A Study in Hygiene
Galbraith, Anna M. (Anna Mary)
Women -- Health and hygiene
Hygiene of Pregnancy.-- The health and perfection of the child depend
largely upon the health and perfection of the parents at the time of
its conception, as well as upon the condition of the mother during the
pregnancy. Even when both parents possess a strong constitution, but
one or both of them is suffering from a temporary exhaustion or
malaise, the child will be born below the standard of health it ought
to possess. Children born during the first year of married life seldom
equal in health the children born of the same parents later; they are
not only apt to be sickly, but the liability to premature death is
greatly increased. For this reason it is better that the first year of
married life should be allowed to pass without conception taking
place. A child begotten in an intoxicated or depraved condition of a
parent may be depraved itself in the same way, and is apt to be
feeble-minded or idiotic.
It must be borne in mind that prenatal culture of some sort begins at
the time of conception; and that on the mental as well as on the
physical state of the mother, the health as well as the disposition of
the child will depend to no slight extent. The prospective mother who
constantly gives way to her feelings does a wrong to her unborn child.
The mother is at this time more impressionable, more nervous, and more
irritable than is natural to her; and while her family should make a
certain allowance for her condition, she, on her part, should not
allow herself to give way to her morbid feelings. The prospective
mother should not lead a life of self-indulgence, on the one hand, or,
on the other, should not be weighed down with cares; she should
interest herself in her usual duties, and be relieved of all anxiety
possible.
Dress.-- The clothing must be loose, and all compression about the
waist and abdomen must be especially avoided. If the woman wears
corsets, she must take them off at once, and substitute a Ferris or
some similar hygienic waist. The corset prevents the proper
development of the abdominal muscles, which play so important a role
in the expulsion of the child from the womb, as well as in the proper
growth and development of the fetus itself. If the woman has already
borne children, and toward the end of the pregnancy the abdomen
becomes pendulous, she will very materially add to her comfort by
swearing a muslin abdominal bandage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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