ONDUCT OF THE PREGNANT WOMAN

The young wife will arrange her daily routine according to the physician's
instructions, which, by the way, she should faithfully carry out. If you
are one of the fortunate many who enjoy reasonably good health, you have
doubtless been told to follow a plan very similar to the one we shall now
briefly outline.

For the first six months she can safely continue to do her household work.
It is to her advantage to do so for many reasons, but especially because it
helps to keep her physically in good condition, and because it keeps her
mind engaged, thus avoiding a tendency to nervous worry. After the sixth
month it is desirable to give up the heavier part of the work. Washing and
sweeping should be absolutely prohibited. Moving furniture or heavy trunks
must not be done by the prospective mother, but all light work can and [76]
should be indulged in to the very end. Find time to spend at least one hour
and a half in the open air every day. Unless there is a medical reason
against active exercise there is nothing so beneficial to the pregnant
woman as walking, nor is there any substitute for it. A drive or motor ride
into the country, or a car ride around town, is an excellent device against
ennui and is highly desirable during this time, but not as a substitute for
the daily long walk. A pregnant woman must keep her muscles strong and in
good tone if she hopes to do her share toward having a short and easy
confinement. She must keep active to ensure perfect action of all her
organs--the stomach must digest; the bowels and kidneys must act perfectly;
the heart, and lungs, and nerves must be supplied with good blood and fresh
air; the appetite must be keen, and the sleep sound. Walking in the open
air will do all this and nothing else can, to the same satisfactory degree.

Light passive exercise at home is desirable to those very few who cannot
walk in the open air, but at best it is a poor substitute. It is necessary
to avoid any exercise or any labor of the following character from the very
beginning of pregnancy: stretching, lifting, jarring, jumping, the use of
the sewing machine, bicycling, riding, and dancing.

She should continue to employ the same toilet privileges she has been
accustomed to except the use of the vaginal douche, which must be stopped
from the date of the first missed menstrual period. This is the only safe
rule to follow and no exception should be made to it except upon