ly in the labor.

A weak antiseptic solution, prepared by putting two small antiseptic
tablets into one pint and a half of warm water, is now applied to the
body from the breasts to the knee. Put on a freshly laundered gown,
clean stockings and wrapper. The head should be cleansed and hair
braided in two braids.

THE PROGRESS OF LABOR

If all the mothers who read this volume could bear children with the
comfort Mrs. C. does, I should be happy, indeed.

At four o'clock one morning a very much excited father telephoned me,
"Hurry, quick, Doctor, it's almost here." It was well that we did
hurry, for the first sign the little mother had was the deluge of the
waters--at this point the husband ran to telephone for the doctor--no
more pains for thirty-eight minutes (just as we entered the door) and
the baby was there. But such is not usually the case, nor will it be,
as labor usually progresses along the lines of conscious dilating
pains, occurring at intervals twenty minutes apart at first, later
drawing nearer together until they are three to five minutes apart.
This "first stage of labor" lasts from one to fifteen hours--during
which time the tiny door to the uterine room which was originally
about one-eighth of an inch open--dilates sufficiently to allow the
passage of the head, shoulders and body of the fully developed child.

About this time the bag of waters usually bursts, and, as a rule,
this marks the beginning of the "second stage of labor." The amount of
water passed varies in amount. Should the rupture take place before
the door is fully open, then labor proceeds with difficulty and the
condition is known as "dry labor."

The head after proper rotation now begins the descent; and here the
pains begin to change from the sharp, lancinating, cramp-like pains
which begin in the back and move around to the front, to those of the
"bearing down" variety, while at the same time there begins to appear
the bulging at the perineum, which means that the head is about to be
born. At this time great stress is brought to bear upon the perineum
and often, in spite of anything that can be done to prevent it, the
perineum is more or less lacerated.

As soon as the baby is born the "second stage of labor" has passed and
within thirty to fifty minutes the close of the third stage of labor
is marked by the passage of the placenta or "afterbirth."

FALSE LABOR PAINS

Sometimes, as long as two weeks before the birth of th