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
Judicious management means the preparation of the supplies necessary
for confinement before turning to the selection of the infant's
outfit. Ordinarily, both these tasks should be finished by the end of
the eighth month, and final arrangements for the approaching delivery
will then claim attention. If the patient expects to remain at home,
she must decide which is the best room to occupy; she will wonder how
it ought to be equipped, and she will be anxious to learn what
personal preparations are advisable at the beginning of labor.
Intelligent answers to these questions are important. A patient
should request the physician to criticize her plans when he pays the
preliminary visit four to five weeks prior to the expected date of
confinement. If she has acted unwisely in any respect, he will point
it out, and may suggest changes which will enable her to employ to
the best advantage the resources at hand.
THE CHOICE AND ARRANGEMENT OF A ROOM.--An old-fashioned custom, which
relegated obstetrical patients to the most secluded part of the
house, with little regard for comfort and still less for hygiene, has
now few, if any, adherents. There is an advantage, to be sure, in
having a quiet room; but this qualification may be secured in a room
well located with regard to other essentials. Selection of a suitable
room is not a trivial point. In most cases, since patients ordinarily
remain for convalescence in the same room in which the infant is
born, the chamber must serve a two-fold purpose. A number of
requirements, therefore, must be met, and they must all be kept in
mind when the room is chosen.
We have seen that the act of birth, natural as it is, may have a very
unnatural sequel if precautions against infection are treated
lightly. It is proper, therefore, that the delivery-room should be as
clean as care can make it. Such radical measures as may be employed
in sterilizing the dressings are here out of the question; if
possible, they would be absurd. Infection usually develops because
harmful bacteria come in contact with the patient. For that reason,
an infection is more likely to be communicated by the dressings than
by articles about the room, which only become a source of danger when
the dirt upon them is transferred by an attendant.
An acceptable delivery-room may be arranged in any home; it is by no
means necessary to duplicate the equipment of a modern hospital. To
choose a room convenient to the bathroom will be found advantageous
not only at the time of birth but throughout the lying-in period. The
furnishing should be simple and scrupulously clean; indeed, it is
improbable that one of these good points can be secured without the
other. Furthermore, the preparation of the room should be completed
well in advance of the date of confinement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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