Читать книгу The Mother and Her Child - Lena K. Sadler - Страница 86

After selecting the place of confinement, the question of the nurse may next be considered. If it is to be the hospital, you need give little further thought to the nurse, for your physician will arrange for the nurse at the time you enter the hospital. She will be a part of the complete service you may enjoy. You will find her on duty as you, quietly resting in your room, awaken in the sweet satisfaction that at last it is all over—at last your baby is here.

A competent nurse is a necessity, if the confinement takes place in the home. She may be a visiting nurse, who, for a small fee, will not only come on the day of labor, but will make what is known as "post-partum calls" each day for ten or twelve days. These are short calls, but are long enough to clean up the mother and wash and dress the babe. She is not supposed to prepare any meals or care for the home. Then there is the practical nurse—women who have prepared themselves along these lines of nursing, whose fees range from $12.00 to $18.00 a week. If your physician recommends one to you, you may know she is clean and dependable. The trained nurse, who has graduated from a three years' course of training, is prepared for every emergency, and will intelligently work with the physician for the patient's welfare and comfort. Her fees range from $25.00 to $35.00 a week.

Both the practical and the trained nurses are human beings, and require rest and sleep the same as all other women do. One nurse, after having faithfully remained at her post of duty some sixty hours reminded the husband and sister of the patient that she must now have five hours of unbroken rest and they replied in a most surprised manner, "Why we are paying you $30.00 a week, and besides, we understood you were a trained nurse."

The physician usually makes arrangement with the family for competent relief for the nurse. She should have at least one to two hours of each day for an airing, and six hours out of the twenty-four for sleep.