The Prospective Mother, a Handbook for Women During PregnancySlemons, J. Morris (Josiah Morris)
Science
The Prospective Mother, a Handbook for Women During Pregnancy
Slemons, J. Morris (Josiah Morris)
Obstetrics; Pregnancy
The nurse will explain how the various surgical dressings are made,
but, as the patient may forget some of the directions, all the
details will be given here. At least three to four pounds of
absorbent cotton will be used in the dressings. To make the pads
entirely of absorbent cotton is very expensive. The cheaper cotton-
batting is therefore employed to give them body, and they are faced
only upon one side with the absorbent material. Furthermore, the
rolls of absorbent cotton, as purchased, may be separated into three
or four layers, one of which is thick enough for the facing. About
six rolls of the batting should be purchased.
Surgical gauze, which tradespeople sometimes call dairy-cloth, is the
most suitable material for covering the pads. Bleached cheese cloth
will answer the same purpose, but it is more expensive and rather
heavy. Approximately thirty-five yards of the gauze, which comes in a
thirty-six-inch width, will be needed. When the supplies are
finished, they are wrapped in separate bundles and sterilized. Old
muslin or some of the diapers are generally used for covers.
_The sanitary pads_, also called vulval or perineal pads, absorb
the discharge which always occurs after delivery. They are made of
absorbent cotton and cotton-batting covered with gauze; a convenient
size is ten inches long and three to four inches wide. Their
thickness is approximately an inch, one-third of which is composed of
absorbent cotton.
_The sanitary belt_ is used to hold these pads in place. Very
satisfactory ones are made of two strips of unbleached muslin, three
inches wide. The first of these must be long enough to reach around
the waist; the second, which passes over the pad, is somewhat shorter
and has two parallel slits in one end; through which the waist-band
passes at the back; the three free ends are pinned together in front.
_The delivery pads_ are made of the same materials as the
sanitary pads; preferably a yard square and four inches thick. A
rather heavy top-layer of absorbent cotton must be used in them, and
they should be quilted or tacked at several points to prevent
slipping. A rubber pad is ill adapted for use during delivery. Some
absorbent material made into proper shape proves much more
satisfactory since it can be thoroughly sterilized and can be thrown
away after it has been used.
I am told that cotton-waste is a good substitute for absorbent cotton
in the delivery pads. It is inexpensive, and will be rendered capable
of absorbing fluids after it has been boiled in washing soda and
dried in the sun. Each delivery pad should be separately wrapped and
sterilized.
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