Feather beds should be avoided. The heat which they maintain about the body is inconvenient and dangerous, predisposing to flooding and exhausting perspirations. The hair or sponge mattress is to be preferred. The bed-clothing should not be too heavy. Blankets are to be employed rather than coverlids, as they are lighter and more permeable to perspiration. The mattress and cover should be well aired during the day. The sleeping-room should be capacious and well ventilated, and no curtains permitted about the bed.
Occasional rest is also necessary in the daytime. A nap of an hour or two upon a sofa or lounge will then prove very refreshing. In the earlier months of pregnancy it will tend to prevent miscarriage, and in the latter months to relieve the distress consequent upon the increased size of the womb. It is not unusual, as the close of pregnancy approaches, for a feeling of suffocation to ensue when the woman attempts to lie down. This may be overcome by supporting the back and shoulders with cushions and pillows. Or a bed-chair may be employed. This, if well constructed and covered, will often be found very grateful at night, in the last few weeks of pregnancy.
A tranquil mind is of the first importance to the pregnant woman. Gloomy forebodings should not be encouraged. Pregnancy and labor are not, we repeat, diseased conditions. They are healthful processes, and should be looked upon as such by every woman. Bad labors are very infrequent. It is as foolish to dread them, as it is for the railway traveller to give way to misgivings in regard to his safety. Instead of desponding, science bids the woman to look forward with cheerfulness and hope to the joys of maternity.
The bad effects of fear upon the mother's mind are illustrated by Plutarch, who, in his Life of Publicola, mentions that, 'at a time when a superstitious fear overran the city of Rome, all the women then pregnant brought forth imperfect children, and were prematurely delivered.' But we have already spoken, in treating of mothers' marks, of the influence of mental emotions over the unborn child, and the necessity of avoiding their exciting causes.
Because of their deleterious tendency, severe study as well as arduous and protracted manual labor ought to be avoided. The nervous systems of many women are also injuriously affected during pregnancy by perfumes, which at other times are agreeable and innocuous. It is therefore prudent not only to exclude all offensive scents, but also to abstain from the strong odors of various strong perfumes, eau-de-cologne, and of flowers. Large bouquets often cause feelings of faintness, and sometimes temporary loss of consciousness. The extreme liability of the nervous system of the pregnant woman to be affected injuriously to herself and child by scenes of suffering or distress, and by disgusting or frightful objects, cannot be too strongly impressed upon every one. She should be protected from all that will disturb her, and should be constantly treated with soothing and encouraging kindness. Her manifestations of irritability, her caprices, her melancholy anticipations, are not to be scoffed at, but combated with a mixture of reasoning and patient forbearance. On her part, she should endeavour to co-operate with those around her, in sedulously shunning all injurious influences, and in banishing as quickly as possible all improper longings. She should remember that, although she herself may escape mischief from them, her child may suffer. She is the custodian of interests dearer to her than her own.