Radiant Motherhood

ulties of the E

eason with them, we can find out what they have been most accustomed to, and what therefore they are most likely to expect; a

el B

s and difficulties, but too often coloured with actual distress and ill-health. This should not be. The time of prospective motherhood should

aps be able to give her a hint here and a little piece of advice there, which to some extent may alleviate her difficulty or pierce with a faint shadow of light the gloom of perplexity in the ever deepening unknown into which she is ent

alth in women. A distinguished gynecologist who, in cross-examination before a commission persisted in maintaining that the "daily morning sickness" which is so prevalent in women who are carrying a child

, by Dr. Alice Stockham, but this book has its inaccuracies and its drawbacks, and even its pages are too much occup

experience, even at its best, and when most free from incapacities, is yet incredibly and penetratingly more terrible than she anticipated. The more sensitive and more cons

ority, which may have helped to dull and moderate the sensations of her grandmothers. The more evolved she is, the more she may be will

r two appeared to have any clear generalizations or scientific understanding of the facts about which I asked. The resignation, the shrugging of the shoulders in the face of things which would otherwise make one weep, or the cheerful braving out or pretending that things are not as bad as they are, which is the general attitude of mind of the maternity nurse is little more he

ed me to generalize, if it is possible, from their cases in such a way as to help others who enter upon maternity's difficulties for the first time, so that they may at least be spared that t

n any sense actually ill, and who should be in the hands of a doctor, I am not here dealing, for, in this respect, as throughout my other books, I d

fe at least once during the first three months and twice again during the last three months, but that, for the first baby, it would be better to go at least every month for examination. In that way, the various insidious disturbances

experienced and mellow, and yet young and virile and active enough to be acquainted with modern knowledge,

e the healthy prospective mother, and to be able to detect at once anything which should necessitate handing her on to the doctor of disease. Such practitioners should rank in status somewhere between the cultivated midwife of gentle birth (such as a Queen Charlotte's Hospital nurse) and the medical woman. Thus the prospective mother would be spared that hard and bitter contact with one who has

cy, I have disentangled into three groups those which

hiest woman. They can be perhaps, to some extent, mitigated. They are things which

and are the results of either ignorance or our gross d

al, but which knowledge and a bette

p: those which are general, but whic

ness usually after she has risen in the morning, called "Morning Sickness." This is so usual that medical practitioners rely on it to some extent as a sign of pregnancy. It is described in alm

r for the morning sickness, and a woman who lives as she should live during the time of her coming motherhood need not experience it. This should, in the next generation, be entirely conquered, because it is to a very large extent caused by allowing, even forcing to wear corsets, girls when they are still unformed and developing. Those women who have never worn corsets in the whole of their lives, and who dress as they should dress, and do as th

y, sensible attention to the following points will insure complete fre

icting clothing, wearing only the lightest

garments should be of the lightest wool and silk if possible, and should be so ligh

ch game or highly seasoned dishes, and live as much as possible on uncooked foods and simple milk puddings,

ut with the juice of two or three

ough the whole nine months without experiencing on

, adding for this purpose honey and brown bread, does much to prevent it; if it exists in spite of this, take suitable bending exercises (see also

lected, and even if the woman is being doctored, unless, at the same time, she regularly follows the proper healthy method of dieting and living. In addition to the dieting and clothing described above, which will make her almost certain to be imm

ds on the position in which the child is lying, and sometimes the position of the child can be improved by massage and manipulation by a trained midwife or doctor. Something also can be done by the mother herself through

any sort should not be appealed to. If it is possible during these later months, sleep will be much more refreshing, and the advantage will be very great both to the coming child and the mot

n at this time, and particularly to face the vulgar and leering attitude of the general public, and it is partly also due to the general heaviness or strain on the muscles or to the presence of varicose veins. If these have, by the methods just described, been almost or entirely a

never of any general or greater theme, is also eliminated when the general health is improved, and any mental or bodily

te hours, which they try to lead. The mother-to-be should give up almost all social engagements which keep her out of bed after 9 o'clock. Sleep, fresh a

ithout instruction in the things she might do to mitigate them, often lead her to suffer intensely, though needlessly, and tend to have life-long effects on her health an

metimes so that they do break apart and leave ultimate permanent little scars under the skin of the mother. Few apparently know, but all should know, that this can be almost entirely avoided (by fortunate women entirely avoided), if the skin and tissues immediately below it are kept supple by daily rubbing with olive oil from the fifth month. Perhaps from the fourth month once a week, and certainly from the fifth month daily, the mother should rub the lower part of her body and her breasts with a l

month or two this may be very uncomfortable without in any way being dangerous. It is then advisable to wear a small stiff pad over this and fasten it in place with a narrow, soft elastic band. The use of a localized plas

ause of great distress and self-repugnance. It is well that she should be helped over this most anxious time of self-detestation by the reliable assurance that it is only a temporary phase, and that if she keeps in

g distance walking and any acute activity such as running or tennis-playing must become impossible. Nevertheless if the di

s much better for her to strengthen her own muscles by slow and careful exercise, bending forward until she touches the ground or as nearly touches the ground as possible; also lying on her back on the ground and rising without touching the floor with her hands and arms; also slowly raising the feet forward above the head while lying on the back, and then allowing them to drop

pressure is sufficient to induce morning sickness (see p. 88) for the following among other reasons. As the womb grows in the centre of the body it pushes aside and to the back the many yards of soft tubular alimentary canal which normally lie coiled in the front of the body, and, if there is no constriction or pressure, these tend to find room for th

this often results in the final and lifelong loss of the beauty of the bosom, and it is indeed a cruel thing that the average doctor or nurse appears not to be capable of giving any useful advice on this point, so that hundreds of thousands of women have not only lost their beauty

rge patches of brown colouring matter, on the skin during the time the baby is forming. So far as I am aware nothing can be done to prevent it, and if as sometimes happen

in the mother of the strong black body hairs of the father. The result was that during the later months of carrying and for a few months after b

to them probably depends on the withdrawal of the proper quantity of fat from the tissues. It is, therefore, advisable for the mother-to-be to rub her nails and hair with some suitable natural oil. Refined paraffin, almond oil or castor oil for the hair are by far the best, and for the nails

no knowledge of its liability can prevent, and which can only be met by a careful supervision of the mother's teeth both before and after birth. Women differ in the amount they lose, but it is, alas, one of the almost inevitable things that there shall be a cer

om the mother's structure if it does not get it in other ways. I have, therefore, thought it advisable not entirely to eliminate the wheat and other bone making materials from the usual diet as Dr. Stockham recommends, but to maintain a certain pro

, who, in falling, may strain or injure herself. The growth which results in this change in the centre of gravity comes too rapidly for the system quite perfectly to adjust itself to it. It will be remembered how long it takes a baby to learn to balance itself upright upon its feet; the adult mother-to-be has had a whole lifetime knowing just how to balance, and every muscle has become adjusted to the centre of gravity in its accustomed place. The change in the distribution of weight changes the position of the centre of gravity to some extent, sufficiently

he nine months of bearing the unborn child, she should remember she is providing it with vitality every second of the twenty-four hours of each day, and she should neither have forced upon her, nor should she desire to do, work which ever tires her, tho