Cotton diaper napkins, not too large; old soft ones are preferable.
Long merino stockings which can be pinned to the napkin.
Flannel petticoats, not too long; these may be made on muslin bands, which are held up on the shoulders by means of straps. The essential in all the clothing is that it should be sufficiently loose.
Dress-slips should not be so elaborate that they cannot be washed and changed with sufficient frequency; and not so long that the baby's feet will be hampered in their movements by them. All of baby's clothes but the dress should be fastened by safety-pins.
Baby's basket should contain: 1. One outfit of clothes. 2. One tube of sterilized tape. 3. A pair of blunt-pointed scissors. 4. Large and small safety-pins. 5. Pieces of fine old linen; old handkerchiefs are the best. 6. A soft hair-brush. 7. A powder box and puff, with talcum powder. 8. Two tubes of sterilized white vaselin. 9. Two soft towels. 10. Castile soap. 11. Single-bulb syringe; so-called "eye and ear syringe." 12. A woolen shawl or wrap.
If there is no nurse available before the labor sets in, and it is necessary for the patient to see to the sterilizing of the above articles, she should first scrub off all pitchers, basins, and other utensils, as well as the douche-pan, fountain syringe, and rubber sheeting, with a brush and hot soap-suds; the hand-scrubs are to be well washed; then each article should be pinned separately in coarse towels, and put to boil for half an hour in an ordinary wash-boiler. The articles so boiled are then dried without removing the towels, put away, and not opened till the time of the labor.
The abdominal bandages must be laundried and pinned up in separate towels until they are needed. The cheese-cloth must be laundried and then sterilized.
The vulvar pads should be pinned in an old napkin, in packages of half a dozen each; and one package is sterilized at a time by placing it in the oven until the outer covering is scorched. The linen for the baby's eyes and the cheese-cloth are treated in the same way; they are to be cut up into small pieces and sterilized as needed.
Signs of Approaching Labor.-- About two weeks before labor there is a sinking of the womb. At the beginning of the ninth lunar month this was at the end of the breast-bone; it now descends to a point midway between this and the navel; the abdomen becomes smaller, the pressure on the lungs is relieved, and the woman breathes more freely. But at the same time that the woman is relieved of the pressure on the chest, she experiences increase of the troubles in the lower extremities. There is an increase of the bladder symptoms, with a desire for frequent unrination. Constipation becomes more troublesome, and there may be hemorrhoids; the veins of the lower extremities may become greatly enlarged.