SURROUNDINGS AND AFTER-CARE OF THE MOTHER.
Maternity Should Have the Largest and Brightest Room in the
House.—It is Her Coronation Room.—Simplicity of Labor with
Healthy Women.—Science Has Reduced Risk to the Minimum.—The
Exaltation of Motherhood.—The Rest after Labor.—How to Prepare
a Bed for the Parturient.—Deliverance of Mother from Friends
and Visitors.—Sanitary Pads.—Regular Nursing.—Undisturbed
Sleep.—No Binder Necessary for Mother.—The Care of the
Breasts.—Diet.—Sitting Up.—Six or Eight Weeks Needed to Regain
Normal Condition.—The Use of the Douche.—Sore Nipples.—The
Bearing of Children not to be Dreaded.—The Joy of Motherhood.
The room chosen for the lying-in should be as large and warm and sunshiny
as any room in the house. It should be far enough from the living rooms
to be quiet the greater part of the day, and yet not so far as to feel
isolated. The centre of the home at this time is the little mother, and
the room in which she rests after her perilsome journey is the throne
room, where love and homage crown her queen, and welcome right royally
the little prince or princess, who has come to share her reign. Nothing
unpleasant should be allowed to enter this room, for the happy and quick
getting up of the patient depends much upon the smooth running of the
home machinery. One hour of mental disturbance, may add days to the
lying-in, and one discordant person can make more unrest and trouble than
all the others combined can overcome. Therefore look well to the helpers
in the home, that they be in harmony with the home-keeper.
Had we to deal with labor in its simplicity, as a physiological act,
natural and uncomplicated with faulty living and semi-invalidism, the
physician’s and attendant’s duties in the days following delivery,
could be expressed in few words; but owing to the results of our
boasted civilization and high pressure living, which too often in its
mad rush has robbed womankind of the sturdy physique, and sound brawn
and endurance so much needed in the everyday emergencies of life, she
comes to the ordeal of maternity badly fitted for its strain, and with
little or no reserve power, either to carry her through the hours of
incomparable pain, or to aid in her restoration in the days following.
In other words, labor has come to be pathological or abnormal, instead
of physiological or normal, in the majority of cases, and as such, the
attendant cares have come to be correspondingly onerous.
That great changes have been made in the past thirty years since the
promulgation of the germ theory of disease, in the management of the
lying-in room is unquestioned. The patient is no longer left to the
recuperative forces of nature alone, but is aided as well by every wise
provision of art and science, and as a consequence the mortality rate of
parturients has been reduced to a minimum.
But something more than getting the mother up is desired, namely,
getting her up as well and strong as ever. Child-bearing should not
deplete a woman’s strength, neither should it detract from her beauty
and freshness, but should add charms, even as it adds to her mental and
spiritual attractiveness by the sweet consciousness and dignity that
she is a mother, and that henceforth a little soul looks to her for the
interpretation of life’s meaning, and for the guiding of little feet
along its devious paths. Oh mother, what a privilege; that you may shape
this fair thing into a soul to your thought and God’s liking, for His
promises are sure along these lines. Listen! “Instead of thy fathers
shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.”
As if the dear Lord were comforting His daughters in going out from the
home nest, and the peculiar protecting care of the father, by reminding
them that henceforth a sublimer thing awaited them than the protection
of a father’s love; namely, themselves assuming the part of parent,
enfolding and shaping in their love, the little lives, according to His
will, into fair and noble souls that shall bless the world and make it
richer for their living.
Immediately following delivery, the physician in charge should see that
his patient is made comfortable. A rest of half an hour at least should
be allowed her, while physician and nurse look after the little one. Then
lacerations if any must be seen to—for they will occur occasionally even
in the most skillfully conducted labors.
If the gown is turned up under the shoulders during delivery, and held
securely in place with a safety pin, there will be no necessity for
changing this, and a toilet of the bruised and sore parts will take but a
few moments, and the mother will be ready for her long delightful rest.
It may not be out of place to give directions for making the bed
preparatory to the confinement. There is a right way and a wrong way for
doing even this. The bed should be made double. First over the mattress
should be placed a square of rubber sheeting—or oilcloth if the rubber
is not easily obtainable—large enough to cover the entire middle of the
bed, and within eighteen inches of the head and foot. This should be
securely fastened at the four corners with safety pins, and at the middle
on each edge, to prevent wrinkling. Over this is placed a sheet covering
the entire bed; over this a sheet folded lengthwise, then crosswise, to
make a square; this is called the draw sheet, and must be fastened at
the corners with safety pins. This is the first bed and that which is to
remain after the toilet is made following delivery. Over this a third
sheet is placed covering the entire bed, then another draw sheet fastened
as the other. These last two are removed with small discomfort to the
patient, after delivery, and a clean fresh bed remains.
An excellent thing to insure greater cleanliness, is to prepare a
bag about two feet square, made of old cotton cloth, and filled to a
thickness of three or four inches, with wheat bran. This, if placed
directly under the body will absorb all the discharges, and can be burned
when removed, and thus much washing be saved.
Now the mother should be left several hours undisturbed; for she needs
rest, and must have it. One rule should be made inviolable for every
lying-in room; namely, no company should be allowed, other than the
immediate family, until the patient is sitting up; then she will be
strong enough to bear the “ohs” and “ahs” of admiration, and the wise
and otherwise volumes of advice, upon the care and training of the
little one, which will be gratuitously bestowed. The nurse will have no
difficulty in carrying this out if she have the physician’s authority to
support her. Many little mothers have been hindered in their recovery,
and have finally gotten up weak and nervous, through the indiscretions
of their thoughtless, if well-meaning friends. The heartfelt prayer of
every parturient should be, “Lord, I am delivered of my child safely, now
deliver me from my friends.”
Before confinement two dozen of napkins or pads should be prepared for
the mother in the following manner. Get an ordinary grade of cheese
cloth, and enclose in a square of it folded corner-wise, a strip of
medicated cotton six inches long. These can be used as napkins for the
mother safely, as they are aseptic, and after they are soiled can be
burned. These are comparatively inexpensive, as a pound of cotton will
make the entire number.
If the confinement has been in every way a normal one, the care necessary
will be easily given. To keep the baby quiet and contented, and from the
beginning free from night nursing, that the mother may be insured a good
period of rest, is one of the strongest aids to her speedy recovery. What
I mean by freedom from night feeding is this. At ten o’clock the baby
may be put to the breast, and then not again until four or five in the
morning. That they can be thus taught, and that they will thrive under
it, I have many times demonstrated; and that the mother will thrive is a
foregone conclusion. This will be further discussed in the chapter on the
care of the baby.
No binder for the mother is necessary, as I have in my own practice many
times demonstrated. It seems to me a reflection on the creative work of
the Maker. They are used and recommended ostensibly as a support, and to
insure a good form after getting up; while in reality they defeat the
first purpose by crowding down the uterus instead of holding it in place;
while the muscles of the abdomen are quite capable of contracting and
insuring the former figure, without the use of a binder.
On the day following delivery the physician will see that the patient
urinates freely, and the bowels, if they have been kept open before
delivery, will need no attention until nature calls for an evacuation.
A simple enema of warm water will be all that is needed to aid in this.
Immediately after delivery, and after the toilet, to patients who can
take it, I recommend a cup of hot milk, to others a cup of beef tea made
from beef extract, if more acceptable than the milk.
Until the mother’s milk is established, the food should be light and
simple, with not too much of liquid to stimulate too great a flow
of milk. If the milk comes with a rush the breasts may be painfully
distended, and more may be secreted than the baby will take. If so,
all that will be needed is a gentle rubbing of the breasts from the
circumference toward the nipple, with the fingers dipped in hot lard.
The nurse if well chosen will be schooled in this, and only enough milk
should be rubbed out to relieve the breasts, as very soon the little one
will need all that is secreted.
After the milk is established the diet can be more generous, and on the
eighth day if all goes well, the little mother can sit up in bed to eat
her meals; and after the tenth day she may have her wrapper on and slip
out into a rocker for a few hours, but she should avoid walking about
for some days yet. The reason for this carefulness? The uterus which has
enlarged from a tiny organ, weighing a few ounces, to many times its
original size and weight, cannot regain its original condition in a day.
To quote from Leavitt again. “In normal cases complete involution, (_i.
e._, reduction to normal size), is effected in _six or eight weeks_. The
progress of uterine diminution is graphically shown by Heschl, from the
weight of the organ at different periods. Immediately after delivery he
found that it weighed twenty-two to twenty-four ounces; in one week it
was reduced to nineteen to twenty-one ounces; at the end of the second
week it weighed ten to eleven ounces; at the close of the third week it
weighed five to seven ounces; and at eight weeks its weight was but a
little in excess of that which preceded the first pregnancy.” All this
methodical work of nature may be greatly hindered by carelessness and by
getting up too early, hence, “make haste slowly.”
The douche in the after care of the parturient has been variously
discussed. A hot douche immediately following delivery, to cleanse
thoroughly the uterus of any clots or bits of membrane that may be
hiding there, is, we believe, productive of no harm, and may obviate
much trouble thereafter. A daily douche of hot water containing a little
calendula or listerine, is cleansing and is often very grateful to the
patient, but is not, in the absence of unnatural conditions, a necessity.
Nature undisturbed knows how to take care of the outlets, in cleansing
and recuperation, if all has gone well. In many cases the douching is
overdone, and is productive of weakness rather than strength.
Should the nipples give trouble, from sensitiveness or fissures, washing
them off and dusting them with calendulated boracic acid, or simply
bathing with calendula, may heal them very quickly. If this alone fails,
before each nursing apply over the nipple a piece of gold-beater’s
skin—which may be obtained of any reliable druggist—puncturing with
several openings to allow the milk to pass through. Make a fresh
application each time, and by thus persistently keeping the lips of the
child from the sensitive surfaces they are enabled to heal.
With all these careful directions, dear young mothers, do not be
frightened into thinking that the bearing of children is something to
be dreaded, and something which involves great danger. It is neither.
The bearing of children was intended in our creation and is a natural,
physiological process, and the All-wise Creator has amply fitted us for
it. If we come to maternity unprepared, it must be because of ignorance
on our part how to fit ourselves properly, or from unhygienic and harmful
ways of living. Heed the laws of health, keep a sweet, trustful spirit,
avoid excitement, consider yourself strong enough for the great office
for which nature designed you, and you will be the “joyful mother of
children.” Otherwise your joy will be mixed with fear and a thousand
foolish worries, that totally unfit you for your high office.
Be happy that you are capable of becoming a mother, be happy when you
have the promise, and be happiest of all when you hold your little one
in your arms. Train them, all that are given you, to the fear of God,
and for the good of mankind, and you will be a great woman, whether your
name ever reaches beyond your immediate neighborhood or not. It is a
great thing to become a mother of children. To become God’s vicegerent
in creating and training souls that may bring gladness and regeneration
to the dark places of the earth. Mothers, mothers! rate your privileges
high, and live and train to a glorious fulfillment of noble purposes
these gifts from God.