ily may be trained to
care for the mother with proper cleanliness and asepsis; but it is far
better for the mother, if possible, to secure the services of a
trained nurse, or the visiting nurse, in which instance she will call
each day, wash and dress the baby, clean up the mother and care for
the breasts. She is not supposed to clean the room, make the bed or
prepare the food. If a trained nurse can be in charge, the
convalescing time is usually shortened as the responsibilities are
taken from the mother, her mind freed from care and it is her's to
improve, rest, and wait for the restoration of the pelvic organs, when
she may again go forth among her family.

The nurse may have to sleep in the same room; but, if it be possible,
she should occupy an adjoining room, she should have a regular time
each day for an hour's walk in the fresh air, she should be served
regular meals, and be allowed some time out of the twenty-four hours
for unbroken slumber. In return she will intelligently cooperate with
the physician in bringing about the restoration of body and upbuilding
of the mother's nerves.

REST AND EXERCISE

From a monetary standpoint there can be nothing so wasteful or
extravagantly expensive in the home as to allow the mother to drag
about from day to day and week to week with chronic weakness or
invalidism because she did not have proper care during her already too
short puerperium, or because she got up too soon.

Having a baby is a perfectly normal, physiological procedure. It is
also, usually, downright hard work; and, beside the hard laborious
work, there is not only a wearied and severely shocked nervous system
to be restored, but there is also a certain amount of uterine
shrinkage which must take place--and this requires from four to eight
weeks; and so our mother must be allowed weeks or even a month or two
to rest, to enjoy a certain amount of well-directed exercise, to have
an abundance of fresh air, to be wheeled or lifted out of doors if
possible into the sunshine, that she may be the better prepared for
the additional duties and responsibilities the little new comer
entails. Sunshine and fresh air are wonderful health restorers as is
also a well-directed cold water friction bath administered near the
close of the second week of a normal puerperium. During the second
week a few carefully selected exercises such as the following are not
only beneficial, but tend to increase circulation and thus to