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94
(e) Prematurity (9 Cases).
Of the nine cases of premature birth, four occurred in primigravidse
and a fifth in a woman whose only other pregnancy had
terminated in a three months' miscarriage. This last was a woman
of 31 years who had been married seven years. She was found to be
suffering from raised blood pressure on her first attendance at
29 weeks. After a week she was sent into hospital. She remained
there about three weeks and then discharged herself. When her
private medical practitioner examined her subsequent to discharge,
he found increased albuminuria and raised blood pressure. She
had a premature stillbirth two weeks later.
Of the four primigravidae, two showed no obvious cause to
account for the premature births—one at 32 weeks, and the other
at 34 weeks. Both babies died in the first twenty-four hours, one
diagnosed as congenital atelectasis. In the third case the mother
(aged 22 years) had developed optic neuritis of sudden onset when
she was about 12 weeks' pregnant. She was in hospital four weeks.
The cause could not be ascertained, and on discharge she had almost
complete unilateral blindness. When she was 28 weeks she felt
giddy and fell downstairs. Her doctor sent her into hospital
where she commenced labour the following day, resulting in a
premature stillbirth. The fourth case was a girl of 18 years who
was delivered of a premature child at 34 weeks, followed by
the death of the child nine days later.
Of the four multiparse, two had ante-partum haemorrhage
about 30 weeks. In one of these cases the general physical condition
was not good and there was a history of a three months'
miscarriage the previous year. In the third case the mother
gave a history of pleurisy with effusion in her previous pregnancy,
and her physical condition was not satisfactory in this pregnancy,
which terminated at about 30 weeks. The fourth case was a
premature stillbirth in a woman (45 years) who had previously had
eight living children.
Maternity Beds.
In addition to the 550 expectant mothers who attended the
Council's clinics, 281 attended the Out-patient Department of
Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, for ante-natal supervision.
289 mothers had their confinements in the Margaret Lyle Wards
of the hospital.