The food, under ordinary circumstances, should be light, easy of digestion and moderate in quantity.
The beverage should be mild and cooling- such as plain barley-water, lemonade, toast-and-water, plain water, and a little light claret; either of which may be iced, particularly if the weather be hot.
The first quitting of the bed should be to repose upon the sofa, and thence- fine weather permitting- a gentle stroll in the open air.
DURATION OF PREGNANCY
There is nothing so unpleasant, or tends more to disarrange a household, and there is nothing more inconvenient to a medical man, than a miscalculation in the period of pregnancy.
Married ladies would do well to make themselves acquainted with a few simple particulars concerning this all-important subject.
Strange and curious stories do we sometimes hear of one lady having been brought to bed of a seven months’ child; another of an eleven months’ monster; when, if either of these ladies had only attended to the simple and well-established rules of pregnancy, neither infant would have been considered as a being born in violation of nature’s laws.
An illustration applicable to this subject occurred not long since, in a village not a dozen miles from the metropolis of England. A lady calculated, or rather mis-calculated, that parturition would set in at the close of the second week of a certain month. The nurse was summoned to her presence. The swiftest horse in her husband’s stable was saddled and bridled, and the most trusty servant was selected to start at a moment’s notice on the important mission of summoning a London doctor to the lying-in chamber. But day after day, night after night, week after week passed away, without either pain or twitch being felt by the anxious and expectant mother; and it was not till two more months had elapsed that the premonitory sufferings announced the crisis to be at hand.
How different do we find it with other ladies, who deem it neither indicate to seek the counsel to their medical adviser, nor consider it too much trouble to note certain changes upon the private pages of their pocket-books. A lady who engaged me to attend her at the close of 1861, calculated that my services would be required on the 11th of-. My calculations were to the same effect: both our conjectures proved well founded; for on the morning of that date I was summoned to her presence, and on the evening of the same day she was safely delivered.
I mention these little instances with no desire to draw invidious comparisons, but solely with the view to direct the attention of married ladies to the necessity of observing those changes which serve as landmarks to a correct diagnosis.
The duration of pregnancy, from the time of conception to the hour of labour, is estimated at nine calendar months, ten lunar months, forty weeks, or two hundred and eighty days.
If the foetus be expelled prior to the completion of four lunar months, subsequent to conception, the lady is said to “abort”.
But if delivery takes place after the fourth, and before the end of the seventh month, then she is said to “miscarry”. While if the labour occurs after the seventh, and before the completion of the tenth lunar month, then the birth is said to be “premature labour”; though, with care, the child may frequently be preserved at this period of its existence.
Most practitioners commence their calculations from the date of the last periodic discharge. Thus, supposing the “monthly reliefs” to cease on the 1st of January, labour may be expected, about the 7th of October; or, dating from the 1st of April, confinement may be expected about the 31st of December; making 275 days, or NINE calendar months.
To make the matter still more simple, I arrange here a series of dates in a tabular form, and venture to designate it, the “Married Lady’s Ready Reckoner”. It consists of two columns- one for calendar months, the other for lunar months; which may be read as follows:-
A lady has ceased to menstruate on the 1st of July: her confinement may be expected about the 31st of March, the end of nine calendar months; or, at latest, on the 6th of April, the end of ten lunar months.
Another lady has observed the like change on the 29th of January: her confinement may be expected on the 30th of September, plus twenty days, the end of nine calendar months, at soonest; or on the 7th of October, plus twenty days, the end of ten lunar months, at latest.
TABLE FOR CALCULATING THE PERIOD OF PREGNANCY
NINE CALENDAR MONTHS TEN LUNAR MONTHS
FROM TO DAYS TO DAYS
January 1 September 30 273 October 7 280
February 1 October 31 273 November 7 280
March 1 November 30 275 December 5 280
April 1 December 31 275 January 5 280
May 1 January 31 276 February 4 280
June 1 February 28 273 March 7 280
July 1 March 31 274 April 6 280
August 1 April 30 273 May 7 280
September 1 May 31 273 June 7 280
October 1 June 30 273 July 7 280
November 1 July 31 273 August 7 280
December 1 August 31 274 September6 280
The “quickening,” or first perceptible movement of the child by the mother, is another method of estimating the duration of pregnancy.
Quickening generally takes place at, or about, the twentieth week: if we add twenty weeks more to the previous time, we obtain a probable calculation of the full period. But ladies are cautioned not to place too much reliance on such an index, as quickening is varied in its advent; sometimes appearing as early as the third, at other times as late as the fifth, or even sixth month of parturition: therefore no absolute dependence can be placed on this last indication; nor are either of the calculations to be regarded as more than a probable approach to truth.
Dr. Desberger, an eminent French physician, has arranged a far more elaborate table, which I here append with a few slight alternations.
It is a calendar for “nine months”, and so arranged as to enable the reader to form a tolerably correct reckoning from the commencement, or the time of IMPREGNATION, to the middle, or the time of QUICKENING, to the end of the first indications of LABOUR. It is termed DESBERGER’S LADIES’ PERPETUAL CALENDAR: WITH ALTERNATIONS FROM PETERS’ “DISEASES OF MARRIED FEMALES”.
LADIES’ CALENDAR-JANUARY
BEGINNING MIDDLE END
JANUARY MAY OCTOBER
1 Harold 20 Frances 8 Ephraim
2 Abel 21 Prudence 9 Denyson
3 Enoch 22 Helena 10 Amelia
4 Titus 23 Alfred 11 Dennis
5 Simeon 24 Esther 12 Fritz
6 Laura 25 Urban 13 Edward
7 Percy 26 Augustine 14 William
8 Lucian 27 Bede 15 Edwin
9 Caspar 28 William 16 Alphonso
10 Paul 29 Maximilian 17 Etheldred
11 Amy 30 Edward 18 LUKE
12 Reynolds 31 Ellen 19 Ptolemy
JUNE
13 Hilarius 1 Lilian 20 Wilkie
14 Felix 2 Florence 21 Ursula
15 Albert 3 Erasmus 22 Martha
16 Marcellus 4 Rosa 23 Severus
17 Anthony 5 Richard 24 Solomon
18 Priscilla 6 Lily 25 Louis
19 Ferdinand 7 Lucretia 26 Clara
20 Fabian 8 Mark 27 Sabina
21 Agnes 9 Benjamin 28 SIMON
22 Vincent 10 Thomas 29 Kate
23 Herbert 11 BARNABAS 30 Sarah
24 Timothy 12 Jemima 31 Joseph
NOVEMBER
25 Bertrand 13 Richard 1 Mary
26 Polycarp 14 Samuel 2 Thomas
27 Florence 15 Frederick 3 Augustus
28 Charles 16 Justina 4 Charlotte
29 Samuel 17 Alban 5 Eric
30 Maude Mary 18 Paulina 6 Leonard
31 Mary Eleanor 19 Gervase 7 Alexander
LADIES’ CALENDAR-FEBRUARY
BEGINNING MIDDLE END
FEBRUARY JUNE NOVEMBER
1 Bridget 20 Edward 8 Claude
2 Julius 21 Jacobina 9 Theodore
3 Joseph 22 Ellen 10 Jonas
4 Veronica 23 Basilius 11 Martin
5 Agatha 24 JOHN BAPTIST 12 Walter
6 Dorothea 25 Duncan 13 Julian
7 Richard 26 Jeremiah 14 Lewin
8 Solomon 27 Frank 15 Machutus
9 Apollonia 28 Leo 16 Ottoman
10 Lucy 29 PETER 17 Hugh
11 Euphrosyne 30 Paul 18 Godfrey
JULY
12 Helen 1 Theobald 19 Elizabeth
13 Benigna 2 Ernest 20 Edmund
14 Valentine 3 Cornelius 21 Alex
15 Formosus 4 Martin 22 Cecilia
16 Julia 5 Anselm 23 Clement
17 Constantia 6 Isaiah 24 Macbeth
18 Concordia 7 Fred 25 Catharine
19 Susanna 8 Kilian 26 Conrad
20 Jane 9 Cyril 27 Launcelot
21 Eleanor 10 Felicity 28 Gunter
22 Peter 11 Pius 29 Noah
23 Reynard 12 Henry 30 ANDREW
DECEMBER
24 MATTHIAS 13 Margaret 1 Arnold
25 Victor 14 Bonaventura 2 Candida
26 Nestor 15 Swithin 4 Cassian
27 Hector 16 Eustace 5 Barbara
28 Justus 17 Alexis 5 Abigail
LADIES’ CALENDAR-MARCH
BEGINNING MIDDLE END
MARCH JULY DECEMBER
1 Alban 18 Caroline 6 Nicholas
2 Louisa 19 Ruth 7 Antonia
3 Bertram 20 Elias 8 Jabez
4 Adrian 21 Daniel 9 John
5 Frederick 22 Magdalen 10 Judith
6 Everard 23 Albertina 11 Waldemar
7 Perpetua 24 Christina 12 Chas. Frederick
8 Philemon 25 JAMES 13 Lucy
9 Prudentius 26 Anne 14 Israel
10 Henrietta 27 Berthold 15 Johanna
11 Rosina 28 Innocent 16 Laura
12 Gregory 29 Martha 17 Lazarus
13 Ernest 30 Beatrice 18 Christopher
14 Zacchary 31 Germain 19 Nora
AUGUST
15 Isabella 1 Peter 20 Abraham
16 Matthias 2 Gustavus 21 THOMAS
17 Patrick 3 Augustus 22 Beata
18 Edward 4 Perpetua 23 Ignatius
19 Joseph 5 Dominick 24 Adam
20 Rupert 6 Frank 25 Eliza
21 Benedict 7 Donatus 26 STEPHEN
22 Casimer 8 Samuel 27 JOHN
23 Everard 9 Romanus 28 Adaliga
24 Gabriel 10 Lawrence 29 Jonathan
25 Matthew 11 Titus 30 David
26 Emanuel 12 Clara 31 Sylvester
JANUARY
27 Hubert 13 Hildebrand 1 Dora
28 Gideon 14 Eusebius 2 Abel
29 Eustace 15 Charles 3 Enoch
William Morgan wrote The homeopathic treatment of indigestion, constipation, and haemorrhoids, The philosophy of homeopathy, The Text Book for Domestic Practice, The Liver and Its Diseases, Both Functional and Organic, Diabetes Mellitus, Syphilis and Syphiloidal Diseases, Cholera, Diphtheria, The signs and concomitant derangements of pregnancy, Contagious diseases; their history, anatomy, pathology, and treatment, Diseases of the Liver, and their homeopathic treatment.