Obstetrical nursing

“The nurse who assisted at an operative delivery in the home faced a task of daunting proportions. A nurse’s tactful ability to secure the patient’s cooperation was as crucial as her scientific training because she was required to convert the patient’s private home into an aseptic field for scientific birth. Building a trusting relationship with her patient was an essential first step as the nurse was responsible for convincing the mother that it was necessary to scrub all floors, walls, and furniture and otherwise rearrange the family’s furnishing for birth. She must ensure that all equipment was sterile and at hand. After the environment was cleansed the nurse was expected to wash thoroughly her patient also, both internally and externally. A warm bath, soapsuds enema, and in the early years an antiseptic douche were followed by additional scrubbing of the skin from the breasts to the knees, including the perineum, the buttocks, and the thighs. Perineal shaving, begun in the early decades of the 20th century, continued, despite its demonstrated futility, well into the 1980s. Following the cleansing, the mother-to-be was placed in an elaborated prepared bed for her labor. The nurse’s responsibility then was to remain with her patient and send for the doctor when delivery was imminent” (Rinker, 110).