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[190] 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.[191] 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,[192] 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[194] 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 th............