MAKING READY FOR THE BABY
In making ready for the actual arrival of the baby there are several
factors to consider, chief among them being the doctor; the nurse; the
place where the baby is to be born; the room he is to occupy and an
equipment which will facilitate the care of yourself and the baby, at
the time of his birth and afterwards.
Of course you have long since placed yourself under a doctor’s care, so
that is settled. If you are in the care of a privately engaged
physician, he will, in all probability tell you his wishes in regard to
your engaging a nurse. She should be satisfactory to both you and the
doctor from the standpoint of training and professional fitness as well
as her personality. The selection of the nurse, therefore, should be
made in coöperation with your doctor. It is wise to engage her during
the early part of your pregnancy both to insure your securing the one
that you and the doctor want especially, and to have that much of the
preparation off your mind. It is usually a good plan to engage the nurse
to hold herself in readiness to respond to your call at any time after
two weeks before the expected date of your confinement. Quite
reasonably, if she is obliged to give up or refuse an engagement in
order to hold herself available for you, from a given date, she will do
so at your expense. Try to arrange to have the nurse stay with you for
six weeks after the baby is born, even though this involves considerable
financial sacrifice on your part. Of course if you can afford to keep
her still longer, so much the better.
All of this is in case you are in the care of a privately engaged
physician and are to have a special nurse. If you are being cared for
during pregnancy by doctors and nurses connected with a dispensary,
health center or prenatal clinic, they will advise with you about your
nursing care at the time of confinement and afterwards.
The next question to consider is whether the baby is to be born at your
home or in a hospital. The doctor who is advising you will have his
wishes on this subject, too, and as they are entirely in your interest,
you will, of course, do as he advises. You will be likely to find that
for the birth of the first baby he will want you to go to a hospital, if
there is a good one available; also if you have had any symptoms of
complications during this pregnancy or difficulty with previous labors.
If you are going to a hospital you or your doctor will make the
necessary arrangements about your room, well in advance of the date upon
which you expect to go, in order to feel sure that a room will be ready
for you.
It sometimes happens, that for a variety of reasons it is nearly or
quite impossible for the expectant mother to go to a hospital, or that
her doctor is entirely willing that she shall be confined at home. If it
is decided that you are to remain at home, it will be possible, with a
little planning and effort on your part, to imitate very nearly in your
own home the advantages which are offered by a hospital.
You will remember that in the last chapter I mentioned childbed fever as
being one of the serious complications, associated with childbirth, that
could be prevented by careful work. In the old days, when the importance
of cleanliness was not appreciated, this fever was very common in
maternity hospitals, but nowadays it seldom occurs in well conducted
institutions because the doctors and nurses know how to do clean work
and also because they have clean things to work with. So if you are to
be attended at home by a good doctor and a good nurse you may make the
conditions of your confinement practically ideal by providing a clean
room and such an outfit of sterile sheets, towels, dressings and certain
other articles as would be available for their use in a hospital.
Suppose we settle the question of the rooms first.
It is a very important one but need not be the bugbear that some people
think it is. In all probability you will have no choice as to a room for
yourself and will have to use the one you ordinarily occupy. Should you
have a choice, however, it will be well to select one that is cool and
shady, if the baby is coming during the summer, but one that is bright
and sunny for occupancy during most of the year. It should be
conveniently near a bathroom, if possible; have an adjoining room for
the nurse and one near by for the baby.
The ideal to work toward is: A room with a washable floor with small,
light rugs; freshly laundered curtains at the windows but no heavy
draperies; a single brass or iron bedstead, about thirty inches high,
with a firm mattress, and so placed as to be accessible from both sides
and with the foot in a good light, either by day or night; a bedside
table and two others (folding card tables are a great convenience); a
bureau; a washstand, unless there is a bathroom on the same floor; one
or two comfortable chairs, two or three straight chairs and a couch or
_chaise longue_, all of which should be of wood or wicker or covered
with freshly laundered chintzes.
Between such a room as this and the one that must be used there may be a
wide difference, but it will be worth while to approach this standard as
nearly as possible. It is not necessary to make the room bare; in fact,
it should be as cheerful and pretty as is compatible with cleanliness.
There is no objection to pictures on the walls, but the room should be
free from useless, small articles which are likely to be dust catchers,
give the nurse unnecessary work and occupy space needed for other
things.
The room should be given a thorough house-cleaning about two weeks
before the baby is expected. If there is a carpet on the floor that
cannot be taken up conveniently, it might be well to have in readiness a
large canvas or rubber or an abundance of newspapers to protect the
floor near the bed. If the bed is low, the attentions of the doctor and
nurse will be made much easier if you have ready four solid blocks of
wood, of the same size, upon which to elevate the bed, after the casters
have been removed. The blocks should be of such a size as to bring the
height of the bed up to thirty inches. And it is important, too, to have
a large board, or table leaves, at hand, to slip under the mattress to
make it firm, particularly if the bed is soft or sinks in the middle.
The chief requisites for the baby’s room are that it may be well
ventilated and easily cleaned. The floor should be of hard wood, or
covered with linoleum, in order that it may be wiped up with a damp
cloth every day, and the walls should be freshly papered, or, better
still, painted. As bright light and glare are bad for the baby the walls
would better be of a soft shade, such as grayish green or blue, than
white, and there should be dark shades at the windows, in order that the
room may be darkened at will.
The furnishings may consist of a brass or enameled crib, with a hair
mattress; a chest of drawers; a low straight chair and low rocker, both
without arms, and a low table for the baby’s toilet articles. An
ordinary kitchen table, enameled and with the legs sawed off, serves
admirably. All of the furniture should have smooth, washable surfaces,
such as hard wood or enamel, and the walls should be free from pictures,
for the baby’s room will have to be kept scrupulously clean and free
from dust.
So much for the rooms.
When it comes to the question of providing the outfit to be used in your
personal care, the matter of nightgowns and the like will be determined
by your tastes and your means, rather than by specific needs. But six or
eight nightgowns, a warm bed jacket if the weather is cool, a
dressing-gown and a pair of slippers, will probably be enough to keep
you fresh and comfortable, so far as these things are concerned, whether
you are in a hospital or at home.
But the preparation of necessary dressings and other articles for a home
confinement is a different matter and you should learn the wishes of
your doctor concerning them.
If his instructions are not specific, you may find that the following
lists will be helpful guides in assembling an equipment which will prove
adequate to meet the ordinary requirements of a home confinement. Most
of the articles listed, or satisfactory substitutes, are to be found in
the average household, but they should be gotten together in one place
so as to be ready at a moment’s notice.
=For the Confinement and Your Own Care:=
Plenty of sheets, pillow cases and towels.
4 sanitary belts.
1 piece rubber sheeting or oil cloth, 1 × 1½ yards.
1 piece rubber sheeting or oilcloth, 2 × 1½ yards.
Two or three dozen safety-pins.
Hot water bag with flannel cover.
1 two-quart fountain syringe.
1 douche pan.
1 bed-pan.
2 covered slop jars or covered pails.
3 basins, about 16, 14 and 12 inches in diameter.
2 stiff nail brushes, nail scissors and file or orange stick.
3 agate or enamel pitchers, holding at least 1 quart each.
Medicine glass.
Medicine dropper.
2 bent glass drinking tubes.
100 bichlorid tablets.
4 ounces chloroform.
4 ounces boric acid powder.
4 ounces green soap.
1 pint grain alcohol.
Small jar of vaselin to be sterilized.
Lard, olive oil, vaselin or albolene to oil the baby.
Roll of adhesive plaster, 1 inch wide.
One package of absorbent cotton.
One clinical thermometer.
In addition to these, a certain supply of sterile dressings will be
needed. Complete outfits of such dressings, sterilized and ready for
use, may be obtained from any one of a number of firms, of which your
doctor will know; or they may be prepared by the nurse, or you yourself
may prepare and sterilize the following:
One dozen towels.
Three sheets. Five or six dozen sanitary pads, about 10 inches long
and 4 inches wide, made of gauze and cotton batting with a top layer
of absorbent cotton.
Two to four bed pads, about 30 inches square and 4 inches thick, made
of gauze and cotton waste or cotton batting with a top layer of
absorbent cotton; or of newspapers covered with muslin.
One pair of leggings made of canton- or outing-flannel, either loose
fitting hose reaching to the thighs or a yard square folded
diagonally and stitched on one side. See Fig. 16. Five or six dozen
gauze sponges, made by folding pieces of gauze 18 inches square into
small pads with all raw edges inside.
Two or three dozen gauze squares, 4 inches square.
Four or five dozen cotton pledgets, or wads of absorbent cotton about
the size of an egg with the edges drawn together between thumb and
finger and twisted into a spiral.
Six pieces of bobbin or narrow tape, 9 inches long, to tie the baby’s
cord.
[Illustration:
FIG. 16.—Two types of easily made leggings, suitable for use at the
baby’s birth.
]
To make these supplies you will need about four pounds of absorbent
cotton, 6 or 8 packages of cotton batting, and possibly 40 yards of
gauze in addition to cotton flannel for the hose.
In preparing the dressings for sterilization, you may divide them into
packages as follows: The sheets in one package; 6 towels in a package; 6
sanitary pads in a package; 2 delivery pads in a package; the gauze
squares in two packages; the leggings in one package; the bobbin in one
package. The sponges and pledgets should be put up in bags or small
pillow cases, 2 or 3 dozen in a bag. Wrap each package in heavy muslin,
either new or old, using pieces large enough to well protect the
contents from contamination by dust or handling, tie them securely with
string and sterilize as follows: Fill a wash boiler about a quarter full
of water and fashion a hammock by securely tying a towel or strip of
muslin to the handles at each end and allowing it to hang so that the
bottom of the hammock is about halfway down in the boiler. As the weight
of the dressings makes the hammock sag low in the middle it is a wise
precaution to place a rack or support of some kind in the bottom of the
boiler, to hold the dressings well above the bubbling water, at the
point where they hang lowest. Pile the dressings into the hammock, cover
the boiler tightly and keep the water boiling vigorously for an hour;
dry the packages in the sun, or by placing them in the oven for a few
moments, taking care that they are not loosened or opened, and at the
end of twenty-four hours repeat the steaming and drying process, wrap
the packages in a clean sheet and put them in a drawer or covered box
where they may remain undisturbed until needed. The nail brushes, douche
pan and fountain syringe may be wrapped in muslin and sterilized in the
same way, or the nurse may boil them when the time comes to use them.
Bed pads made of newspapers offer excellent protection and are, of
course, less expensive than those made of cotton. They consist of six or
eight thicknesses of newspaper opened out to the full size of the page
and covered with a piece of freshly laundered muslin which is folded
over the edges and basted in place or held with safety-pins, as shown in
Fig. 17. These pads may be made virtually sterile by ironing them on the
muslin side with a very hot iron, folding the ironed surface inside
without touching it, ironing the outside after it is folded and wrapping
the pads in a clean sheet or muslin, also recently ironed, and putting
them away with the other dressings, in a place protected from dust.
[Illustration:
FIG. 17.—Reverse side of pad made of newspapers and old muslin to
protect bed during a home confinement. If muslin is held in place
with safety-pins it may be removed easily, washed and used for
another pad. (By courtesy of the Maternity Centre Association.)
]
=Baby Clothes.= In planning the baby clothes, there are a few general
principles to bear in mind that are of considerable importance to the
baby’s welfare. His health actually may be injured by having his clothes
too warm or not warm enough, and also if they are tight enough to bind
or constrict any part of his body or so ample as to form bunches and
wrinkles which will make him uncomfortable and restless.
To be entirely satisfactory his clothes should be simple in design and
so made as to slip on easily, fit loosely and at the same time smoothly;
the materials should be soft, light and porous. Complete outfits of baby
clothes may be bought outright, but few expectant mothers are willing to
forego the sheer ecstasy of fashioning the little garments themselves,
while they dream dreams of the baby who is to wear them. The following
list of garments will meet the baby’s needs, and those which you may
make are really very simple:
Two to four dozen diapers, about 18 inches square.
Three flannel bands 6 inches wide and 27 inches long, unhemmed.
Three knitted bands with shoulder straps.
Three shirts, infants’, size 2, of cotton and wool, silk and wool but
not all wool.
Four wool and cotton flannel petticoats.
Four wool and cotton flannel nightgowns.
Six thin white cotton slips, or dresses.
Flannel wrapper or a yard square of flannel for extra wrap in cool room.
Cloak and cap or other wrap for out door use in cool weather.
Let us take these up in turn.
The =diapers= may be of any soft, absorbent, loosely woven material,
such as cheesecloth, stockinette, bird’s-eye, cotton flannel or thin
Turkish toweling, single or double thickness, according to the weight of
the material used, and about 18 inches square when hemmed.
The first =bands= are of cotton and wool flannel, torn-straight across
the width of the material in 6–inch strips and left unhemmed. After the
cord separates, this band is usually replaced by a knitted band with
shoulder straps.
The =shirts= should have high necks and long sleeves, come well down
over the hips and open all the way down the front. They should be of
cotton and wool or silk and wool but not all wool as this is too warm.
During very warm weather the shirts should be of thin cotton or silk. It
is better to start with size 2 as the smaller size will soon be
outgrown.
[Illustration:
FIG. 18.—Pattern for baby’s petticoat (shown in _C._ Fig. 20)
requiring ¾ yard of material one yard wide. The cotton dress (_A_)
and flannel nightgown (_B_) in Fig. 20, may be made from this
pattern with the addition of straight sleeves.
]
The =petticoat= is a very important item in the baby’s wardrobe, for,
helping as it does to keep his body evenly warm, it is worn constantly
except during very warm weather. It should be a straight little slip,
about 27 inches long, hanging from the shoulders, made entirely of
flannel, without the broad cotton waistband that has tortured so many
babies in days gone by.
The chief purpose of the =dresses= or slips is to keep the petticoats
clean and add to the daintiness of the baby’s attire and they are made,
therefore, of very thin, soft cotton or linen material. They are made
from the same pattern as the petticoats, except that they have sleeves
and these may be set in or cut out in one piece with the rest of the
garment like kimono sleeves, as in Fig. 19.
[Illustration:
FIG. 19—Pattern for kimono-style dress or nightgown, shown in _E_,
Fig. 20, and requiring 1½ yards of material 27 inches wide.
]
The =nightgowns= are made like the slips, but of the same part wool
flannel as that used for the petticoats.
The petticoats, slips and nightgowns should all open down the back and
may be fastened with either tapes or buttons and buttonholes. These
fastenings present about equal advantages but there is perhaps a slight
preference for buttons as babies sometimes tangle their fingers in tapes
or get them in their mouths.
[Illustration:
FIG. 20.—An outfit of satisfactory baby clothes:
A. Thin cotton dress, open down the back.
B. Flannel nightgown with set-in-sleeves.
C. “Gertrude” petticoat, open down the back.
D. Shirt, opened all the way down the front.
E. Flannel nightgown with kimono sleeves.
F. Knitted band with shoulder straps.
G. Flannel square with tapes run through casings to form hood of one
corner.
H. Bag, with hood, suitable for premature baby or for outdoor
sleeping.
]
A satisfactory little =wrap= to use at first may be made from a yard
square of soft, warm material with a hood formed of one corner by
running tapes through casings.
Patterns for these baby clothes may be obtained from two or three of the
large pattern concerns, or you may cut them out, yourself, by using
Figs. 18 and 19 as guides, while Fig. 20 shows how the various little
garments look when finished.
The question of =socks= for the new baby is one upon which doctors hold
different opinions, some believing that the warmth provided by the
petticoat is sufficient; others, that there is an advantage in the extra
protection afforded by socks, so you would better learn the wishes of
your own doctor in this connection.
=Additional Articles Which Are Needed or Useful in the Care of the
Baby:=
Bath tub, tin, enamel, agate or rubber.
Drying frames for shirts and stockings.
Rubber bath apron.
Flannel, or Turkish toweling bath apron.
Low chair without arms.
Low table.
Screen to protect baby during bath.
Rack upon which to hang clothes to warm during bath.
Scales, with beam and basket or scoop, not the spring variety.
Hot water bag and cover.
Crib, basket or box, to be used as bed.
Folded felt pad, blanket or hair pillow for mattress.
Rubber or oilcloth to cover mattress.
6 crib sheets.
1 thermometer.
2 crib blankets.
Soft towels and wash cloths.
An old blanket to be used for bath blanket.
3 or 4 dozen safety-pins, assorted sizes.
Castile soap.
Boric acid powder.
Olive oil or albolene.
Absorbent cotton pledgets, preferably sterile.
Enamel pail and cover.
[Illustration:
FIG. 21.—Baby’s toilet tray equipped with jelly glasses, bottles,
celluloid hair receiver for cotton, and a soap dish, as follows:
1. Safety-pins sticking in cake of soap.
2. Jar for sterile nipples.
3. Jar of sterile water.
4. Jar of boracic acid solution.
5. Nursing bottle.
6. Sterile water to drink.
7. Nursing bottle for water.
8. Small tooth pick swabs.
9. Liquid petrolatum.
10. Gauze mouth swabs.
11. Absorbent cotton.
12. Soap.
(By courtesy of the Maternity Centre Association.)
]
The giving of the baby’s daily bath, after he comes, will be greatly
simplified if you will assemble beforehand and keep in readiness on a
tray or small table, all of the things which are to be used each time.
Dainty little outfits for this purpose may be bought, or you may arrange
an entirely satisfactory one from jars and bottles to be found in the
house, as suggested in Fig. 21.
The above lists of dressings and articles to be used in the care of both
mother and baby can be considerably modified, according to one’s tastes
and means, and still be satisfactory. They merely represent a fair
average of what has been found adequate to meet the usual needs of the
mother and baby at home.
It will be a good plan for you to have in readiness, by about the end of
the seventh calendar month, all of the dressings and other articles to
be used during the confinement. This is in case you should have a
premature labor, for which the same dressings are needed as in a normal
delivery. The baby’s clothes, however, will be in time if they are ready
by the end of the eighth month. A baby born before this time would
probably be so frail that he would be wrapped in cotton at first,
instead of being dressed in the clothes ordinarily prepared for a fully
developed baby.
If you will make such preparations for the baby’s arrival as I have
suggested, you will be doing a great deal toward securing his safety and
well-being, as well as your own.