Management of Normal Parturition 543 



It is first warranted bj' the apparent course of labor, which, after 

 proper watching, seems to indicate the possibility of the presence 

 of some obstacle to normal parturition. 



The character of the labor pains should be observed and it 

 should be determined if they are normal or otherwise. The 

 labor pains may show a somewhat violent and clonic character, 

 accompanied by inefficiency instead of that deliberate vigor 

 which should accompany the act. This is claimed to occur 

 chiefly in young and nervous animals, especially in primipara, 

 and is due in all probability to the rather excessive pain accom 

 panying tlie first uterine contractions and the very slow dilation 

 of the OS uteri and the genital passages. Under such conditions, 

 any precipitate expulsive effort causes unusual pain to the 

 mother and leads her to desist early in the effort, so that the 

 labor is not marked by the expected eflSciency. There is usually 

 little need for interference. If the patient is kept quiet and al- 

 lowed a little time, the labor pains soon acquire their normal 

 vigor and accomplish the end without assistance. 



It has been claimed that, in some cases, the cervix uteri is in a 

 state of spasm, and that this may be quickly overcome by apply- 

 ing a little extract of belladonna to the parts. Other remedies 

 of various kinds have been suggested, but clinically it cannot be 

 demonstrated that any of them possess material value, and they 

 probably in reality retard parturition, rather than help it, by 

 simply serving as a source of annoyance to the animal. It is 

 extremely doubtful if the application of belladonna to the cervix 

 will cause it to relax. Fleming states that contractions of the 

 uterus, in some of these cases, are reversed and that they begin 

 at the cervix of the organ and pass toward its fundus, a sort of 

 anti-peristalsis, thus tending to force the fetus toward the apex 

 of the horn rather than toward the vagina. Upon what clinical 

 or experimental evidence such a theory depends, he is wholly 

 silent. 



Some authors have emphasized the con^mon clinical fact that 

 easy parturition in the cow is more liable to be followed by par- 

 turient paresis than is a protracted birth. The connection be- 

 tween easy birth and parturient paresis is not fundamental nor 

 essential, but simply coincident. Parturient paresis occurs be- 

 fore birth and during labor, so that the easy accomplishment of 

 the act cannot serve as a cause. Clinically, difficult labor serves 



