Licence: In copyright
Credit: Rotunda midwifery for nurses and midwives / by G.T. Wrench. Source: Wellcome Collection.
34/372 page 14
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Rotunda midwifery for nurses and midwives / by G.T. Wrench. Source: Wellcome Collection.
![CHAPTER HI DIAGNOSIS OF PREGNANCY Importance.—When a Nurse can, on her own Responsibility, tell a Patient she is Pregnant and when not.—The next question we have to consider is how a niirse can tell when a woman is carrpng a child or not. In most cases the discovery of pregnancy is not very important, and therefore a nurse can let the woman know whether she is or ig not pregnant. If the discovery, or diagnosis, as it is called by medical men, is of any importance, as when the woman is not married and her chastity is questioned, it should be left to a medical man. A nurse must not take this responsibility. Division of Pregnancy into Periods.—Pregnancy exists for about ten lunar-months. Practically in the first five lunar- months you may from your examination think it very likely the woman is pregnant ; in the second five months, that is from the beginning of the sixth month to child- birth the foetus frequently gives signs of its presence in the womb, and if you detect any of these, you can be sure the woman is pi’egnant. I shall, therefore, describe to you the signs of ju’egnancy you may discover in the first five months, and the signs you may discover in the second five months of pregnancy. SIGNS BY WHICH YOU MAY DIAGNOSE PREGNANCY IN THE FIRST FIVE LUNAR-MONTHS OF PREGNANCY Cessation of Menses.—A pregnant woman is not unwell every montli. Her menses or monthly periods cease. This is ])ractically invjiriable, and any blood that I'uns from](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28088906_0034.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
