Medford mail tribune., May 10, 1959, Image 38

pen letter to mothers-to-be
(Continued)
The notion that it's dangerous for you to take
any exercise more strenuous than walking is a
myth, the veteran obstetrician contends. The aver
age woman worries unnecessarily even about the
effort involved in housework. There isn't any ath
letic event, whether it's tennis, skiing, golf, or
swimming, that Dr. Guttmacher will not permit,
unless there is some complication.
"Childbirth," he says, "calls for good muscle
tone, and women who go into training for it by
taking specific exercises have more comfortable
pregnancies, more efficient labors, and better post
partum figures. Sports that take her out into the
fresh air are good for the normal mother-to-be."
Some obstetricians, it should be pointed out, bar
activities which call for twisting or fast starts and
stops, particularly during the first three months
when miscarriages are most common. Others, how
ever, believe that you can safely do anything
you're used to doing, as long as you don't let your
self get over fatigued. Thus, while pregnancy is no
time for a novice to take up tennis, an experienced
player would be better off to play than go soft.
Dr. Guttmacher was converted to his theory of
exercise by a ballerina who was one of his earliest
patients. When she first consulted him, she had
completed three months of her pregnancy, and he
was curious to learn how much she was dancing.
Watching her at a night club, the doctor was
amazed to see her twirl, pirouette, and leap in the
air, then be tossed like a football between two
strong-muscled men. The dancer continued her
strenuous career, then had a normal delivery.
A fable still widely prevalent is that you should
not raise your hands high above your head to
hang curtains, for example because "you'll stran
gle the baby in its umbilical cord."
"That's silly," Dr. Guttmacher says. "The baby
cannot be affected by any position which the
mother assumes."
As for taking trips, there's no real evidence that
travel by any means of locomotion brings on
labor, miscarriage, or any complication of preg
nancy. Studies of pregnant wives of servicemen
during World War II showed that those who
traveled with their husbands had no greater inci
dence of miscarriage, premature labor, or other
complications than women who stayed home.
So auto, train, and plane trips are now permitted
by doctors like Guttmacher. Driving a car is not
injurious to you as long as you can comfortably
sit behind the wheel. However, you shouldn't
travel in the last half of your pregnancy if you
have a previous history of premature labor, mis
carriages, or a diagnosis of twins. Nor should you
think of a plane trip in the first three months,
although with pressurized cabins the ban is not so
stringent today. In any case, you should be in the
city where you are to be delivered or within a
50-mile radius during the last six weeks.
As a mother-to-be, your emergence from the
shadowy, bogy era extends to the modern hospital,
too. In 1940, nearly half of all women in the U.S.
had their babies at home; today, about nine out of
ten have hospital deliveries. Labor rooms used to
look like cells, with white walls and uncomfortable
cots; women were virtually locked in, without
communication to the outside. Now, our up-to-date
hospitals have maternity rooms painted in
pastel blue, pink, or gray; linens are colored and
windows have attractive draperies. There are pic
tures on the walls, bedside furniture, and a two
way communication system with the nurse.
The effectiveness of this new policy was demon
strated a while ago by two Baltimore hospitals
which tried an experiment. They decorated their
labor rooms like boudoirs, providing "escape"
reading matter and soothing music that the mother
could turn on or off. Frequent friendly visits from
staff members were encouraged. It was found that
women undergoing labor in these pleasant sur
roundings needed less anesthesia in the delivery
room than women in the usual labor rooms.
After delivery, you are now permitted to get out
of bed within a few hours. You visit other patients
down the hall to compare notes and attend classes
in which you learn how to bathe and care for your
baby. As soon as possible, you are encouraged and
taught to nurse your infant. In some hospitals, you
would go right into the nurseries. In others, such
as Grace Hospital in New Haven, Conn., and George
Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C., there is
a "rooming-in" system, your baby being brought
to you in a bassinette and remaining throughout
the day. As in your pregnancy, you become a
participant rather than just a bystander.
The gay spirit about modern maternity wards,
the early ambulation and the program to keep you
busy as a new mother, all have done a great deal
to overcome postpartum depression. One of the
most devastating complications of childbearing, it
occurs about once in every 400 to 500 deliveries.
The phenomenon was recently explained by Dr.
George C. Merrill of Baltimore.
"The woman who has been unable to deal with
difficulties in life is more likely to have emotional
problems in regard to pregnancy and motherhood
than one who has faced and solved her. emotional
upheavals adequately." '
To prevent postpartum depression, an obstetri
cian gets acquainted with you as a person rather
than as a mechanical problem. Once he gets to
know you well enough to understand what preg
nancy means fo you, he may keep you from being
overwhelmed by your problems.
At Mount Sinai Hospital, a psychosomatic clinic
for mothers is conducted by psychiatrists, resident
physicians, and social workers. Here, mothers-to-be
express their fears and have their questions
answered. One woman may be worried that when
she brings her newborn home, she'll have to
share her husband's affection with the baby and
that it will make an important difference in their,
relationship. Another is fearful that she will not
measure up as a mother and meet the rigid stand-
ai ds of her own parents or in-laws. Talking it over
with a psychiatrist or staff doctor, the women come
away calmer, more comfortable.
The other day, a pretty 19-year-old expectant
mother came to the psychosomatic clinic trembling
in terror. As a child, she had seen her mother die
of a hemorrhage from a gynecological disorder.
Wouldn't the same thing happen to her in child
birth? The psychiatrist reminded her that medicine
has come a long way since then and such deaths
don't occur nowadays in big hospitals with blood
banks. A fear, of course, can't be amputated from
the brain; it can only be assuaged. But the young
woman was sufficiently buoyed up so that she
eventually had a normal delivery.
The psychological approach to pregnancy and
childbirth, and the importance of your emotional
attitude, are being recognized by more and more
hospitals and doctors throughout the country. They
look upon you as a human being while you're
bearing your baby, and you appreciate being
treated like one. Under such a regimen, childbirth
should indeed be a pleasant, rich, and exultant
experience for you.
For Mother's Day
by Martin Filchock
y 6IFT5
FOR,
MOTHEB ' -i 1
3
CANOV
Family Weekly, May 10. IfSf
F.UJ10CJO
4 '