PREGNANCY, PARTURITION, AND LACTATION 



443 



ALTERATIONS IN THE BODY GENERALLY. These we may classify 

 under the heads of changes in the digestion, circulation, respiration, 

 nervous system, urine, thyroid, and skin. This is only a classification 

 for convenience of description, for without doubt practically the whole 

 organism develops to meet the demands made on it by its production 

 of a substantial new being more or less a replica of its mother. 



The changes which the digestive function undergoes are in two direc- 

 tions : one physiological, an increase in activity, the other accidental and 

 scarcely pathological, an increase in the irritability of the stomach with 

 a hindrance of excretion from the colon. The growing fetus and the 



FIG. 254 



Sagittal section of the belly of a woman pregnant two months: ut, uterus; dv, decidua vera; 

 ch, chorion; am, amnion; dr, decidua reflexa; h, hemorrhagic clot between chorion and reflexa 

 (occurring before death?); V8, urinary bladder. (Ahlfelds.) 



enlarging tissues of the mother's reproductive apparatus require an 

 increased amount of nourishment, especially in the latter half of preg- 

 nancy, and this new demand brings about oftentimes an enlarged appetite 

 for food. This is more noticeable in women who do not usually eat 

 more than the organism requires, although probably these women are 

 to be found only, as a rule, among the poorest classes of Society. The 

 extra food demanded by the pregnant woman is especially proteid in 

 nature. 



The disturbances of digestion appear to depend on the growing and 

 congested uterus, which irritates the abdominal nerves and impedes 



