A manual of midwifery / by Alfred Meadows.

  • Alfred Meadows
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of midwifery / by Alfred Meadows. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    mayle looked for with each succeeding month, instead of modified during the whole course of pregnancy. This ar- rangement wul I think, be of no small convenience kJ the tSVTc^nt 8ame famC'{t be ^ °f ref— As may be readily imagined, it is in the early weeks of pregnancy that the greatest difficulty of forming a correct opinion presents itself. In some cases there is absolutely nothing to excite suspicion of such a condition, and the patient may only become aware of it when pregnancy has far advanced This is especially apt to occur during lac- tation, and I have more than once known abortion happen under these circumstances, caused probably by the sym- pathetic relations between the breast and the uterus In other instances no sooner has conception taken place than, sometimes even within a few hours, symptoms begin which at once attract attention, and force upon the patient s mind a conviction of her situation. Between these two extremes there is every shade of variety, from the smallest, almost inappreciable, change to a general disturbance of nearly every function. As a general rule, among the common indications of pregnancy there are observable certain sympathetic de- rangements of the nervous system, such as increased irritability or unusual mildness of temper, fretfulness, despondency, headache, toothache, and various other neu- ralgic affections, with alterations in the tastes and dis- positions; often a remarkable loathing of food, with nausea, or an unnatural craving after substances some- times of a disgusting nature. The digestive system, too, becomes deranged: occasionally there is profuse saliva- tion, or pyrosis, acid eructations, heartburn, vomiting, dyspepsia, diarrhoea, or constipation; the latter caused sometimes by pressure of the uterus on the rectum. Changes are also common in the circulatory system; there is a sense of general plethora, with increased fre- quency and fulness of the pulse, and, it is said, a much greater proportion of fibrine present in the blood, with flush- ings of the face and an increase of the temperature of the body. It is possible that this sense of plethora may really be due less to any actual change in the constitution of the blood, than to a kind of reflex paralysis of the blood-vessels, due to an irritation starting from the uterus. At all events, opinions are certainly divided as to
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