The Mother and Her Child | Page 3

the
instruction concerning water drinking, exercise, diet, etc. Twenty-four
hour specimens of urine should be frequently saved and taken to the
physician for examination. In these days the blood-pressure is closely
observed, together with approaching headaches and other evidences of
possible kidney complications. The early recognition of these dangers
is accompanied by the immediate employment of appropriate sweating
procedures and other measures designed to promote the elimination of
body poisons. Thus science is able effectively to stay the progress of
the high blood-pressure of former days, and which was so often
followed by eclampsia--uremic poisoning.
In these days of careful urine analysis, expertly administered
anaesthetics, and up-to-date hospital confinements, the average
intelligent woman may enter into pregnancy quite free from the oldtime
fears, whose only rewards were grief and cankering care. All fear of
childbirth and all dread of maternal duties and sacrifices do not in the
least lessen the necessary unpleasantness associated with normal labor.
It lies in the choice of every expectant mother to journey through the
months of pregnancy with dissatisfaction and resentment or with joy
and serenity. "The child will be born and laid in your arms to be fed,
cared for, and reared, whether you weep or smile through the months of
waiting."
THE RESENTFUL MOTHER
A little woman came into our office the day of this writing, saying:
"Doctor, I'm just as mad as I can be; I don't want to be pregnant, I just

hate the idea." As I smiled upon this girl-wife of nineteen, I drew from
my desk a sheet of paper and slowly wrote down these words for the
head of a column: "Got a mad on," and for the head of another, "Got a
glad on;" and then we quickly set to work carefully to tabulate all the
results that having a "mad on" would bring. We found to her dismay
that its harvest would be sadness of the heart, husband unhappy, work
unbearable, while all church duties as well as social functions would be
sadly marred. Then, just as carefully, we tabulated the benefits that
would follow having a "glad on." Her face broke into a smile; she
laughed, and as she left the office she assured me that she would accept
Nature's decree, make the best of her lot, and thus wisely align herself
with the normal life demands of old Mother Nature. This view of her
experience, she came to see, would bring the greatest amount of
happiness to both herself and husband. She left me, declaring that she
was just "wild for a baby;" and there is still echoing in my ears her
parting words: "I'm leaving you, Oh, such a happy girl! and I'm going
home to Harold a happy and contented expectant mother."
There often enters on the exit of a discontented and resentful expectant
mother, a woman, very much alone in the world--perhaps a bachelor
maid or a barren wife, who, as she sits in the office, bitterly weeps and
wails over her state of loneliness or sterility; and so we are led to
realize that discontentment is the lot of many women; and we are
sometimes led to regret that ours is not the power to take from her that
hath and give to her that hath not.
EARLY SIGNS OF PREGNANCY
Among the first questions an expectant mother asks is: "What are early
signs of pregnancy?" The answer briefly is:
1. Cessation of menstruation. 2. Changes in the breast. 3. Morning
sickness. 4. Disturbances in urination.
Menstruation may be interrupted by other causes than pregnancy, but
the missing of the second or third periods usually indicates pregnancy.
Accompanying the cessation of menstruation, changes in the breast
occur. Sensation in the breasts akin to those which usually accompany

menstruation are manifested at this time in connection with the unusual
sensations of stinging, prickling, etc. Fully one-half of our patients do
not suffer with "morning sickness;" however, it is the general
consensus of opinion that "morning sickness" is one of the early signs
of pregnancy, and these attacks consist of all gradations--from slight
dizziness to the most severe vomiting. It is an unpleasant experience,
but in passing through it we may be glad in the thought that "it too, will
pass."
Because of the pressure exerted by the growing uterus upon the bladder,
disturbances in urination often appear, but as the uterus continues to
grow and lifts itself up and away from the bladder these symptoms
disappear.
Chief of the later signs of pregnancy are "quickening" or fetal
movements. The movements are very much like the "fluttering of a
young birdling." They usually are felt by the expectant mother between
the seventeenth and eighteenth weeks. This sign, together with the
noting of the fetal heartbeat at the seventh month, constitute the
positive signs of