Rest

Category: Obstetrics or Midwifery

Complete rest of the body and mind is essential to the well being
of the lying-in woman. She is better off without any company, and should
see no one except her family for the first week or two. Outside visitors
should be prohibited. The lying-in room should be kept free from noise and
confusion, and the patient should be protected from annoyances of every
kind. She should remain lying on her back for a few days and immediately
following delivery she should not have a pillow for her head. Sleep is
very necessary and desirable, and mild medicines should be given to
produce it, if necessary. It is best not to sit up in the bed until the
womb shall have had time to become smaller, and has resumed its natural
position behind the pubis. Among the upper classes, when it takes the womb
longer to regain its normal size, three weeks is a good rule to go by
before sitting up in the room, and she should remain in her room until the
end of the fourth week. Among healthy women of the laboring class, whose
muscular system has not been injured by "culture" and social excesses, the
womb and appendages regain their normal proportions more rapidly; but even
they should remain in bed two weeks.

Next: AFTER-PAINS
Previous: THE CHILD

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Rest