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Indications:—Delay in second stage in each case.
Number of cases in which Cæsarean section was performed, 4.
Indications:—Previous Cæsarean section, 2; uterine fibroids
complicating labour, 2.
Puerperal Morbidity.—The standard adopted for the estimation
of puerperal morbidity is that of the Puerperal Fever and
Pyrexia Regulations, viz., a temperature of 100.4 deg. Fahrenheit
(38 deg. centigrade) or more, sustained during a period of 24
hours, or recurring within that period, during the first 21 days
of puerperium.
Number of cases notified, 3.
(a) Puerperal Fever, 0.
(b) Puerperal Pyrexia, 3.
(i) Engorged breasts, 2.
(ii) Cause unknown, 1.
Number of maternal deaths, 1. Cause—Fulminant puerperal
eclampsia, after delivery.
This patient, a primipara, aged 26, who had attended the AnteNatal
Clinic from the 20th week of pregnancy, was a thin, illnourished
subject. During her pregnancy she complained of headache
and nose-bleeding at the 32nd week. The maximum systolic
blood pressure was 140 m.m. at the 34th week. Albumen was not
found in the urine at any time. Oedema was absent.
Labour was short lasting five hours and a quarter. The
infant was still-born. Three hours after delivery the patient
complained of headache and pain in her chest; following this she
had a series of thirteen fits at intervals of ten to twenty minutes.
She was treated with luminal, morphine and rectal salines.
The patient did not recover consciousness after the first fit. Death
occurred seven hours after the onset of the attack.
A post-mortem examination was not held.
Infants.—Total number of live births, 225. Stillbirths and
Infantile Mortality (a) Still-born, 6. Cause of death in each caseMacerated
foetus, 4 (cause unknown); Anenoephalic, 1; following
difficult forceps delivery, 1 (no post-mortem held). (b) Within
10 days of birth, 1 (a premature twin).
Number of cases of ophthalmia neonatorum, 1.
Result of treatment—Vision unimpaired.