9 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 May

Aug. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
May 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Aug. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
May 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 June

Sep. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
June 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Sep. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
June 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 July

Oct. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
July 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Oct. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
July 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Aug.

Nov. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Aug. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Nov. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Aug. 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sep.

Dec. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Sep. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Dec. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Sep. 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Oct.

[Illustration: If menstruation ceased Oct. 31, the confinement will
take place July 18.]

* * * * *

THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF LABOR.

1. Although the majority of patients, a day or two before the labor
comes on, are more bright and cheerful, some few are more anxious,
fanciful, fidgety and reckless.

2. A few days, sometimes a few hours, before labor commences,
the child "falls" as it is called; that is to say, there is a
subsidence--a dropping--of the womb lower down the abdomen. This
is the reason why she feels lighter and more comfortable, and more
inclined to take exercise, and why she can breathe more freely.

3. The only inconvenience of the dropping of the womb is, that the
womb presses more on the bladder, and sometimes causes an irritability
of that organ, inducing a frequent desire to make water. The wearing
the obstetric belt, as so particularly enjoined in previous pages,
will greatly mitigate this inconvenience.

4. The subsidence--the dropping--of the womb may then be considered
one of the earliest of the precursory symptoms of child-birth, and as
the herald of the coming event.

5. She has, at this time, an increased moisture of the vagina--the
passage leading to the womb--and of the external parts. She has, at
length, slight pains, and then she has a "show," as it is called;
which is the coming