Читать книгу The Mother and Her Child - Lena K. Sadler - Страница 74

In a former chapter we learned that the developing child nearly doubled its weight in the last two months of pregnancy. As the child grows, its metabolic waste matter is greatly increased, while all these poisonous substances must finally be eliminated by the mother. Now, the mother's waste matter is of itself considerably increased; and so, if the kidneys, the liver, and the skin are already over-taxed in their work of normal elimination—if they are already doing their full quota of work—we can readily see that the additional waste matter of the unborn child will throw much extra work on the already overworked eliminative organs, and this results in a condition of toxemia. Certain symptoms accompany this state of constitutional poisoning or auto-intoxication—the chief of which are:

1 Headache.

2 Dizziness.

3 Blurring of the vision.

4 Swelling of the feet and hands, or puffiness of the face.

5 Diminished urine.

6 Vomiting.

7 High blood-pressure.

8 Albumin and casts in the urine.

Any one of these symptoms may or may not indicate toxemia; but it should be reported at once to the attending physician. In the presence of one or more of these symptoms an expectant mother is always safe, while awaiting the physician's advice, in carrying out the following program:

1 Drink more water or lemonade.

2 Take a mild cathartic.

3 Avoid eating much meat and other highly protein foods.