Thomsonian practice of midwifery : and treatment of complaints peculiar to women and children / By J.W. Comfort, M.D.

  • Comfort, J. W. (John W.)
Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Thomsonian practice of midwifery : and treatment of complaints peculiar to women and children / By J.W. Comfort, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    the greater number of eases, before the first stage of labour has been completed, the second has commenced and made some pro- gress; and it is not unusual for the head to descend through the brim and cavity to the outlet of the pelvis, and begin to press upon the external parts before the complete dilatation of the os uteri has been effected. For several days before labour supervenes there are often certain symptoms observed, which have been called the precur- sory or premonitory symptoms of labour. The first and most striking of these is a subsidence or sinking down of the uterus. The epigastric region (pit of the stomach) in consequence of this becomes less distended, respiration is performed with greater ease, and the patient feels herself more comfortable, and able to exert herself than she had been for some time be- fore. This sinking down is not from a mechanical cause, but from relaxation of the parts, and is often observed in the lower animals before parturition. A sensation of weight in the inferior part of the pelvis and in the region of the uterus, and irritation of the bladder and rec- tum, often accompany this subsidence of the uterus. Not only do the parts become soft and relaxed, but in some women, be- fore any pains of labour are experienced, there is a mucous dis- charge from the vagina tinged with blood, arising from the di- latation of the orifice of the uterus, and the separation of the membranes. Some women suffer a week or more before labour begins from sleeplessness at night, irregular pains about the uterus, and a peculiar nervous irritability. Some have at the first a sharp pain or uterine contraction, in a few hours another and a few more after long intervals; whilst in others, without pains, the membranes are ruptured and the liquor amnii (wa- ters) escape. These pains are sometimes experienced fifteen or twenty hours before the commencement of the regular uterine action. They are then slight, produce little effect upon the constitution, and come at intervals of a quarter or half an hour, the intervals gradually becoming shorter and the uterine con- tractions stronger. During these periodical pains the os uteri is opened, and its margin becomes tense and stretched, and a slight degree of pressure is felt on the extremity of the finger if