Chapter 9

THE MANAGEMENT OF LABOR

When to send for the physician in confinement cases--The preparation of the patient--The beginning of labor--The first pains--The meaning of the term "labor"--Length of the first stage of labor--What the first stage of [xvii] labor means--What the second stage of labor means--Length of the second stage--Duration of the first confinement--Duration of subsequent confinements--Conduct of patient during second stage of labor--What a labor pain means--How a willful woman can prolong labor--Management of actual birth of child--Position of woman during birth of child--Duty of nurse immediately following birth of child--Expulsion of after-birth--How to expel after-birth--Cutting the cord--Washing the baby's eyes immediately after birth--What to do with baby immediately after birth--Conduct immediately after labor--After pains--Rest and quiet after labor--Position of patient after labor--The Lochia--The events of the following day--The first breakfast after confinement--The importance of emptying the bladder after labor--How to effect a movement of the bowels after labor--Instructing the nurse in details--Douching after labor--How to give a douche--"Colostrum," its uses--Advantages of putting baby to breast early after labor--The first lunch--The first dinner--Diet after third day ... PAGE 93