covenants of
nature--marriage and child-bearing--shall be rewarded by added strength
and length of days.

There are certain disorders incident, in exceptional cases, to
pregnancy, of which we shall shortly speak. In general, however, we
repeat that this condition is one of extraordinary health. More than
this, in numerous instances it exerts an ameliorating influence upon
pre-existing diseases, suspending their march, or bringing about a
decidedly curative effect. Thus, various obstinate chronic affections of
the skin, of the womb and ovaries, and of the brain and nervous system,
frequently get well during pregnancy; and it is well known to every
physician, that by the judicious management of this state, and of the
lying-in period, troublesome displacements of the womb may be arrested.

It should nevertheless ever be recollected that the condition of
pregnancy is one of excitement and enhanced susceptibility to
impressions of all kinds. For this reason a change in the habits of
life is necessary; and the importance of the directions laid down for
the care of the health during this period, cannot be too strongly
insisted upon.

The diseases to which the wife is exposed during pregnancy will be
treated of in the chapter on 'Health in Marriage.'

CONFINEMENT.

_PREPARATIONS FOR CHILDBIRTH._

Certain foolish preparations are sometimes made by wives, with the best
intentions. Perhaps one of the most common and absurd of these is the
local use of sweet oil, in order to facilitate the dilatation of the
parts, for which purpose it is perfectly inert. There are, however, some
wise and even necessary precautions which every wife should know and
employ, to guard against unpleasant and dangerous complications in
childbirth.

In particular, _the condition of the breasts_ towards the close of
pregnancy demands attention. Scarcely any pain in the lying-in chamber
is greater or more difficult to bear than that which the young mother
suffers from excoriated nipples. This troublesome and often very
intractable affection is nearly always the consequence of the want of
care previous to confinement. During the latter part of pregnancy the
nipples sometimes become sunken or flat, being retracted as the breasts
increase in size, because of the want of elasticity on the part of the
milk tubes. In order to remedy this fault, we have known a breast-pump
or puppy to be applied. Such treatment is dangerous, as it may excite
prem