Obstetrical Nursing A Text-Book on the Nursing Care of the Expectant Mother, the Woman in Labor, the Young Mother and Her Baby

The prenatal care which was outlined in an earlier chapter becomes more impressive when one considers the disasters which it is designed to prevent. And the nurse will be more e...

It is estimated that out of every thousand babies born alive, in this country, forty die during the first month of life, and that more than as many again, or about eighty-five a...

The day is long since past when the obstetrician’s concern for his patient began when she went into labor. The obstetrician of to-day watches and cares for his patient throughou...

The extent of the nurse’s helpfulness during labor, both to the patient and to the doctor, will depend very largely upon the intelligence with which she grasps what is taking pl...

The foregoing discussions of prenatal care and the principal complications of pregnancy, and the dangers to which expectant mothers, young mothers and their babies are exposed,...

In general, the nursing care during the puerperium is much the same as that which is given to a surgical patient, with special attention to the breasts and perineum and a sustai...

The importance of providing the expectant and nursing mother with suitable food has been stressed so insistently in the preceding pages, that it is advisable to explain to the n...

The common ills of early infancy are due largely either to errors in feeding or to infection or both. Of the nutritional disturbances, rickets and scurvy were discussed in the c...

It will be well for us now to take a retrospective view of the various functions of the nurse which are associated with the phenomena of pregnancy, labor, the puerperium and the...

As we learned in the last chapter, some of the ova which are discharged into the peritoneal cavity enter the fimbriated end of the tube, while very many others perish. As a rule...

Unhappily, not all labors run the smooth and uncomplicated course which was described in the last chapter. Certain abnormalities sometimes arise to complicate delivery, occasion...

The avowed purpose of care given to the maternity patient to-day is to minimize the discomforts and perils of her pregnancy, labor, and the puerperium, and so safeguard her and...

This knowledge of the pelvic anatomy, relating as it does, to both normal and malformed pelves, has made possible a system of taking measurements, termed _pelvimetry_, which giv...

=Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy.= Unfortunately for all parties concerned, the exact duration of pregnancy has never been ascertained, since there is no way of knowing when the...

The age at which puberty occurs varies with climate, race, occupation and with individuals of the same status. But the average age for girls, in temperate climates, is from the...

It is only once in a long time that the obstetrical nurse has a patient who is suffering from such a marked mental disturbance that her condition is diagnosed and treated as a p...

Not infrequently the nurse remains with her patient after the end of the puerperium, and therefore she may have the care of the mother and baby for several weeks, or even months...

The preventive value of post-partum care is now so generally recognized that maternity care by visiting nurses is given not only in the larger cities, but is being extended even...

The importance of these to the nurse lies in their preventability, by means of the clean and efficient care which she helps to give during pregnancy, labor and the early weeks a...

Returning for a moment to the pregnant uterus at term, we find it to be a thin-walled, muscular sac containing the mature fetus, attached by means of the umbilical cord to the p...

Before undertaking the care of the new-born baby the nurse should stop and consider him for a moment and review in her mind just what he represents; what he has been through; wh...

It sometimes devolves upon the nurse to give advice in selecting and preparing the room to be used for a home confinement, and very often to help the prospective mother in prepa...

The puerperium[8] is ordinarily regarded as comprising the five or six weeks immediately following delivery. During this period the mother’s body undergoes various changes which...

Although the fetus at term is in many respects simply a diminutive, immature man, or woman, its anatomy and physiology present certain characteristics which have adapted it to a...

Labor may be defined as the process by means of which the product of conception is separated and expelled from the mother’s body. It ordinarily occurs about 280 days from the be...

Terminations of Pregnancy. Definition of Terms. Abortions. Causes: Abnormalities of Fetus; Abnormalities in the Generative Tract; Acute Infectious Diseases; Mental or Emotional...

Months and Year of Life. Preventable Causes. Dangers of Babyhood. Essential Features of Early Care. Daily Schedule. Bath. Clothes. Fresh Air. Exercise. Training the Baby. Bowels...

and Observations. Importance of Prenatal Care. The Nurse’s Part. Personal Hygiene of Pregnancy. Excretions. Kidneys. Urine Tests. Skin. Bowels. Clothes: corsets, binders, shoes....

Treatment and Nursing Care. Psychology of the Patient. Preparation for Vaginal Examination or Delivery. Nurse’s Duties during First Stage. Second Stage. Maintaining of Surgical...

of Prenatal Care. Difficulties: Educational, Economic, Social, Professional. Prenatal Work in Other Countries. Progress of Prenatal Work in this Country. The Women’s Municipal L...

Adequate Nutrition in First Weeks of Life. Necessary Elements of an Adequate Dietary. “Vitamines.” Danger of Deficiency Diseases. Danger of Conditions Approaching Recognizable D...

AND MEMBRANES. The Ovum. The Spermatozoon. Fertilization. Heredity. Sex-determination. Most Favorable Age for Motherhood. The Morula. Growth in the Uterus. The Decidua. Ectoderm...

Malnutrition, Marasmus and Inanition. Diarrheal Diseases: Acute Gastro-enteritis. Symptoms. Treatment and Nursing Care. Acidosis. Colic, Constipation, Convulsions, and Vomiting....

Pregnancy. Date of Labor. Signs of Pregnancy: Presumptive, Probable, and Positive. Physiological Changes in the Maternal Organism: Uterus. Cervix. Vagina. Tubes and Ovaries. Abd...

to be Guarded against. General Treatment of the Patient. Nursing Care. Position in Bed. Sitting up. The Daily Bath. Diet. The Bowels. The Bladder. Catheterization. Temperature,...

Conditions Giving Rise to Operations. Preparation for Operation in the Home. Perineal Lacerations. Episiotomy. Breech Extraction. Version. The Use of Forceps. Symphysiotomy. Vag...

Breast Feeding. The Mother’s Frame of Mind and State of Nutrition. Method of Nursing. The Nursing Schedule. Personal Hygiene of the Nursing Mother. Diet. Bowels. Rest and Exerci...

Female Pelvis. Pelvimetry. Female Organs of Reproduction. Internal Genitalia. Uterus. Fallopian Tubes. Ovaries. Vagina. Bladder. Rectum. External Genitalia. Mons Veneris. Labia...

and Vertex Presentations. Longitudinal and Transverse Presentations. Position of Fetus. Time of Engagement. Methods of Ascertaining Position and Presentation of Fetus. Abdominal...