treatise on the management of pregnancy, and therefore minute details are out of place. Besides, to the details the physician will attend. But some hints regarding diet and general hygiene will prove useful.
If everything is satisfactory, if there is no severe vomiting, kidney trouble, etc., the usual mixed diet may continue. The only changes I would make are the following: Drink plenty of hot water during entire course of pregnancy: a glass or two in the morning, two or three glasses in the afternoon, the same at night. From six to twelve glasses may be consumed. Also plenty of milk, buttermilk and fermented milk. Plenty of fruit and vegetables. Meat only once a day. For the tendency to constipation, whole wheat bread, rye bread, bread baked of bran or bran with cream.
As to exercise, either extreme must be avoided. Some women think that as soon as they become pregnant, they must not move a muscle; they are to be put in a glass case, and kept there to the day of delivery. Other women, on the other hand, of the ultramodern type, indulge in strenuous exercise and go out on long fatiguing walks up to the last day. Either extreme is injurious. The right way is moderate exercise, and short, non-fatiguing walks.
Bathing may be kept up to the day of delivery. But warm baths, particularly during the last two or three months, are preferable to cold baths.
Chapter Thirteen
THE SIZE OF THE FETUS
Approximately Correct Measurements and Weight of Fetus at End of Each Month of Pregnancy.
Men and women are always interested to know how large the fetus is and how far it is developed during the various months of pregnancy. Absolutely exact measurements cannot be given, but the following approximate measurements are correct:
1. Embryo Between One and Two Weeks Old.
2. Embryo About Four Weeks Old.
3. Embryo About Six Weeks Old.
At the end of the first month (lunar) it is about the size of a hazelnut. Weighs about 15 grains.
At the end of the second month it is the size of a small hen's egg. The internal organs are partially formed, it begins to assume a human shape, but the sex cannot yet be differentiated. Up to the fifth or sixth week it does not differ much in appearance from the embryos of other animals.
At the end of the third month it is the size of a large goose egg; it is about two to three and a half inches long. Weighs about one ounce.
At the end of the fourth month the fetus is between six and seven inches long and weighs about five ounces.
At the end of the fifth month the fetus is between seven and eleven inches long, and weighs eight to ten ounces.
At the end of the sixth month it is eleven to thirteen inches long and weighs one and one-half to two pounds. If born, is capable of living a few minutes, and it is reported that some six months' children have been incubated.
At the end of the seventh month the fetus is from thirteen to fifteen or sixteen inches long and weighs about three pounds. Is capable of independent life, but must be brought up with great care, usually in an incubator.
At the end of the eighth month the length is from fifteen to seventeen inches, and weight from three to five pounds.
At the end of the ninth month the length of the fetus is from sixteen to seventeen and one-half inches, and weight from five to seven pounds.
At the end of the tenth lunar month (at birth) the length of the child is from seventeen to nineteen inches and the weight from six to twelve pounds; the average is seven and a quarter, but there are full term children weighing less than six pounds and more than twelve; but these are exceptions.
Chapter Fourteen
THE AFTERBIRTH (PLACENTA) AND CORD
How the Afterbirth Develops—Bag of Waters—Umbilical Cord—The Navel—Fetus Nourished by Absorption—Fetus Breathes by Aid of Placenta—No Nervous Connection Between Mother and Child.
Whatever part of the womb the ovum attaches itself to is stimulated to intense activity, to growth. Numerous bloodvessels begin to grow and that part of the lining membrane with its numerous bloodvessels constitute the placenta, or as it is commonly called afterbirth, because it comes out after the birth of the child. From the placenta there is also reflected a membrane over the ovum, so as to give it additional protection. That membrane forms a complete bag over the fetus; this bag becomes filled with liquid, so that the fetus floats freely in a bag of waters; this bag bursts only during childbirth. The fetus is not attached close to the placenta, but is, so to say, suspended from it by a cord, which is called the umbilical cord. When the child is born, the umbilical cord is cut, and the scar or depression in the abdomen where the umbilical cord was attached constitutes the navel or umbilicus (in slang language—button or belly button). The umbilical cord consists of two arteries and one vein embedded in a gelatin like substance and enveloped by a membrane, and it is through the umbilical cord that the blood from the placenta is brought to and carried from the fetus. The blood of the fetus and the blood of the mother do not mix; the bloodvessels are separated by thin walls, and it is through these thin walls that the fetal blood receives the ingredients it needs from the mother's blood. In other words, it receives its nourishment from the mother by absorption or osmosis. The blood from the placenta also furnishes the fetal blood with oxygen, so that the fetus breathes by the aid of the placenta, and not through its own lungs.
It is well to remember that there is absolutely no nervous connection between mother and child. There are no nerves whatever in the umbilical cord, so that the nervous systems of the fetus and of the mother are entirely distinct and separate. And this will explain why certain nervous impressions and shocks received by the mother are not readily transmitted to the child. It is only through changes in the mother's blood that the fetus can be influenced. As will be seen in a later chapter we are skeptical about "maternal impressions."
Chapter Fifteen
LACTATION OR NURSING
No Perfect Substitute for Mother's Milk—When Nursing is Injurious to Mother and Child—Modified Milk—Artificial Foods—Care Essential in Selecting Wet Nurse—Suckling Child Benefits Mother—Reciprocal Affection Strengthened by Nursing—Sexual Feelings While Nursing—Alcoholics are Injurious—Attention to Condition of Nipples During Pregnancy Essential—Treatment of Sunken Nipples—Treatment of Tender Nipples—Treatment of Cracked Nipples—How to Stop the Secretion of Milk When Necessary—Menstruation While Nursing—Pregnancy in the Nursing Woman.
Every mother should nurse her child—if she can. There is no perfect substitute for mother's milk. There is only one excuse for a mother not nursing—that is when she has no milk, or when the quality of the milk is so poor that the child does not thrive on it, or when the mother is run down, is threatened with or is suffering with tuberculosis, etc. In such cases the nursing would prove injurious to both mother and child.
When the mother cannot nurse the child, it should be brought up artificially on modified cow's milk. Formulas for modified milk have been worked out for every month of the child's life, and if the formulas are carefully followed, and the bottle and nipples are properly sterilized, the child should have no trouble, but should thrive and grow like on good mother's milk. If the child is sickly or delicate and does not thrive on modified cow's milk or on the other artificial foods, such as Horlick's malted milk, or Nestlé's
