the advice
of a physician.

Bathing during the entire course of pregnancy is a highly necessary duty.
It is particularly advantageous during the later months because it relieves
the kidneys at a time when they are called upon to perform an excess of
work. The temperature of the bath should be warm and rapidly cooled at the
finish. Brisk rubbing with a course towel will ensure the proper reaction.

Sexual intercourse must be restricted during pregnancy; and it should be
wholly abstained from during what would have been the regular menstrual
periods, if pregnancy had not occurred, for the reason that abortion is[77]
apt to take place. It is most harmful during the early and late months of
pregnancy. Sexual intercourse is distasteful to most and harmful to every
pregnant woman.

CLOTHING DURING PREGNANCY.--The clothing should be so constructed as to
relieve any undue pressure on the breasts or abdomen. For this reason it
should be suspended from the shoulder. When it is appreciated that clothing
supported by the waist crowds the growing womb, and exerts pressure upon
the kidneys, and is responsible for many of the kidney complications that
occur during pregnancy, no further reason need be given for discarding all
clothing, except very light garments, that are not held by some device
whose support is from the shoulders. A specially constructed linen waist is
made and sold for this purpose. It is fashioned so that all the lower
garments and the garters can be fastened to, and supported by it. Corsets
should be absolutely discarded from the very first day of pregnancy.

In a large woman with a lax abdomen, a properly made abdominal support will
not only be a great comfort but of real advantage. It should exert a
support upward by lifting the abdomen, not by constricting it. It should
therefore be obtained from a reliable dealer and be made and applied to
effect the above object,--otherwise it may do more harm than good.

DIET OF PREGNANT WOMEN.--Some degree of digestive disturbance and loss of
appetite is the rule early in pregnancy. By the fourth month these
conditions invariably cease, and the appetite and the ability to digest
will greatly improve. The diet from the very beginning of pregnancy should
be plain and easily digested. It is not possible to formulate an absolute
table of what or what not to eat, as the same foods do not agree equally
well with all patients. The individual taste should be catered to within,
r