File:Interstate medical journal (1909) (14781484134).jpg

Identifier: interstatemedica1619unse (find matches)
Title: Interstate medical journal
Year: 1909 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Medicine
Publisher: St. Louis, : Interstate Medical Journal
Contributing Library: The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Historical Medical Library
Digitizing Sponsor: The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the National Endowment for the Humanities

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terus has made good progress and will, if nothingunforeseen occurs, be complete within another three weeks. During thetwo and a half or three weeks rest in bed, the general organism hashad sufficient time to recover completely from the strain of pregnancyand labor, and the various organs of the body have resumed theirnormal functions. It will, of course, be necessary to individualize inevery case and to prolong the rest in bed whenever indicated. It must,however, be clearly understood that eighteen days constitute the minimum. Prolonged rest in bed, however, is in itself not sufficient to accomplishthe desired result. There are many women who remain in bed twoweeks and longer after childbirth and yet have flabby abdominal walls.We must, therefore, resort to additional means in order to strengthenthe musculature of the abdomen. Immediately after labor, the abdomen of the puerpera Is flattenedfrom before backward and, in a general way, presents a picture which INTERSTATE MEDICAL JOURNAL
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GELLHORN: THE PUERPERIUM 39 we are accustomed to associate with ascites. The flanks are filled outwhile the center is depressed. The abdominal viscera which had be-come more and more crowded during pregnancy, find all at once abundantspace within the peritoneal cavity. The intestines, in particular, arenow free to expand without any restraint. You all have encounteredcases of meteorism which occasionally may assume alarming proportions.This distension of the bowels continues to exercise a strain upon thealready overstretched abdominal muscles. The undue accumulation ofgas within the bowels may produce a paralysis of the intestines; properperistalsis is prevented, and the natural sequels of this disturbance mustneeds follow. The prophylaxis of this condition simply consists in theapplication of an abdominal bandage. The correctness of this principlehas long been recognized in England and America, and the ever in-creasing number of new models recommended proves that also in Ger-many the

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