Complications of pregnancy / by Edward P. Davis.

  • Edward P. Davis
Date:
1931
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Complications of pregnancy / by Edward P. Davis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    which necessitates the performance of greater labor on the part of the heart. This may increase the rate of the pulse and disturb the heart action readily, and may cause disturbance in breathing as well. Preg¬ nancy in the healthy individual does not produce essential disease of the heart or lungs. The average blood-pressure of pregnancy in a healthy woman is systolic ioo to 130, diastolic 60 to 85; pulse pressure 35 to 50. The Blood.—The condition of the blood in the pregnant woman has been the subject of much study and considerable argument. Before we studied toxemia as we now do, pregnancy was thought invariably to cause anemia in the early months. We now know that, in a perfectly healthy individual, pregnancy not only produces no anemia but enriches the blood by an increased percentage of hemoglobin and cells. Anti¬ bodies, capable of destroying bacteria, are also developed. Provided the pregnant woman escapes toxemia, she is better prepared to resist acute infection than is the woman who is not pregnant. The question is often raised whether menstruation entirely ceases during pregnancy. Certainly before the fourth month, when the membranes of the ovum have joined those of the uterus, a discharge of blood is not only possible but not unusual. Well-recorded cases attest the fact that some women lose blood at regular intervals from the uterus throughout pregnancy. In the majority of cases, however, menstruation ceases. Recent studies on the composition of the blood in pregnancy showT that calcium is increased considerably in quantity, diminishing some¬ what in the second half of pregnancy. The nonprotein nitrogen is lessened in quantity and, of this nonprotein nitrogen, urea nitrogen should comprise 44 per cent, there is no essential change in the quan¬ tity of uric acid, creatin, the chlorids or the sugar concentration. Dur¬ ing the last months of pregnancy, there is a slight decrease in the com¬ bining carbon dioxid capacity of the blood-plasma. The Lymphatics.—The lymphatics share with the blood-vessels the engorgement caused by pressure. In the healthy pregnant woman, we d° n°t find enlargement of the lymphatic glands nor evidences of an abnormal state of the lymphatic fluid. 1 he lymphatic metabolism of the body is stimulated by pregnancy in a healthy woman, and she is thus better prepared to resist acute infection. The Digestive Organs.—In addition to mechanical alteration in the position of the digestive organs, pregnancy favors dilatation of the bowel and stomach and interferes with peristalsis, thus preparing the way for the pathological development of bacteria in the intestine. The congested condition of the liver, and the fact that antibodies produced in the blood have a tendency to attack the liver substance, bring this organ to a condition approaching the pathological. In the* sound and healthy woman, pregnancy stimulates appetite and may also increase and improve digestion. The Organs of Excretion.—Of these the kidneys are usually first considered, and the kidney of pregnancy is essentially a congested kid¬ ney., which has long been considered the inevitable result of pregnancy.
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