position, and having found it stays there until
conditions render it uncomfortable. He does not consult you in the matter,
but he may be subjecting you to untold misery and pain. The child may rest
on the mother's nerves or blood-vessels as they enter her body from her
lower limbs. If the pressure is sufficient, it can interfere quite
seriously with the return blood supply, because veins which carry back to
the heart the venous or used blood, are vessels with thin, soft,
compressible walls, while arteries which carry blood away from the heart
cannot be compressed easily, because their walls are hard and tense. The
condition therefore is that more blood is being sent into the limb than is
being allowed to return; in this way are produced varicose veins. If these
varicose veins burst or rupture we have ulcers, which may quickly heal,[86]
or they may refuse to heal, and become chronic. A dropsical condition of
the leg may follow, and because of interference with the circulation of the
blood we get cramps and neuralgias. How can we remedy this painful
condition?

Sometimes we don't succeed, but at least we can try. So long as the cause
exists, it is self-evident that rubbing the limb with any external
application, will not give any permanent relief, though it is well to try.
When rubbing, to relieve cramps at night, always rub upward. It is not a
condition that calls for medicine of any kind, while hot baths and hot
applications will only make the trouble worse. The remedy that promises the
quickest and longest relief is for the patient to assume the knee-chest
position for fifteen minutes, three times a day, till relief is permanently
established. The patient rests on her knees in bed, and bends forward until
her chest rests on the bed also. The incline of the body in this position
is reversed; hips are highest, the head lowest. The baby will seek a more
comfortable position and this new position may relieve the pressure and
cure the condition. Doing this three times daily for fifteen minutes gives
relief to the leg by reestablishing a normal blood circulation, and very
soon the baby finds a new position that does not interfere with its
mother's blood supply, and the cramps, and neuralgia and dropsy, and maybe
the varicose veins will soon show improvement. Wearing the proper kind of
abdominal support may help, as explained on page 77. If the varicose veins
are bad, it is desirable to wear silk rubber stockings or to bandage