The practice of obstetrics, designed for the use of students and practitioners of medicine . tus toward the side to which its back is turned, and while the pressure is main-tained with one hand the examination may be made satisfactorily with theother (Fig. 195). In order to make out whether the back of the fetus is turned THE EXAMINATION OF PREGNANCY. 157 toward the back or front of the mother, it is to be remembered that the fetalback offers a broad, smooth convex surface from end to end, while the lateralaspect is not convex from end to end, is narrower, and has a deep sulcus be-tween head a
The practice of obstetrics, designed for the use of students and practitioners of medicine . tus toward the side to which its back is turned, and while the pressure is main-tained with one hand the examination may be made satisfactorily with theother (Fig. 195). In order to make out whether the back of the fetus is turned THE EXAMINATION OF PREGNANCY. 157 toward the back or front of the mother, it is to be remembered that the fetalback offers a broad, smooth convex surface from end to end, while the lateralaspect is not convex from end to end, is narrower, and has a deep sulcus be-tween head and pelvis. T-he small parts on one side indicate that the backis on the other, except in the case of twins. If small parts can be felt beyondeither end of the fetus, the presentation is pretty certainly a breech. Certainconditions may, when present, make this part of the examination difficult oruncertain. A large amount of abdominal fat, hydramnios, and a rigidly con-tracted uterus, are some of these conditions. 3. Palpation of the Lower Fetal Pole.—The hands of the examiner are placed. Fig. 197.—Locating the Cephalic Vertex Presentation by ExternalPalpation.—(Front a photograph taken at the Emergency Hospital.) flat upon the sides of the abdomen, with the palms toward each other, andthe fingers toward the feet of the patient, and resting a little above Poupartsligament (Fig. 195). When the hands are passed toward each other and alsotoward the cavity of the maternal pelvis, it is usually possible to catch quicklythe fetal pole, and to manipulate it. The first point to determine, when thepole is found, is whether it is head or breech. The head is large, hard, andglobular, and separated from the trunk by the constriction of the neck; and itis, furthermore, the only part of the fetus which sinks into the maternal pelvisbefore labor. The breech always lies above the excavation of the pelvis untillabor begins. When either fetal pole is found in an iliac fossa, th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectobstetrics, bookyear1
