A number of ailments of which prospective mothers may complain do not
require treatment with medicine. This, however, will not be taken to
imply that there is no need to consult a physician. On the contrary,
and it cannot be emphasized too strongly, the prospective mother
should _seek professional service whenever there is anything about
her condition she does not understand_. Sometimes, when she thus
consults the physician, he will explain to her that what she has
noticed is merely one of the natural manifestations of pregnancy and
that she can have no control over it; at other times he will suggest
changes in her mode of life which will very likely afford her relief.
The frequency with which physicians find that ailments may be
corrected by the adoption of hygienic measures indicates that such
ailments are more often due to ignorance or carelessness than to the
existence of disease.

NAUSEA AND VOMITING.--We have already learned that nausea, especially
in the morning on rising from bed, frequently corroborates the
suspicion of a woman that she has become pregnant. So commonly,
indeed, is this symptom expected that most women take no account of
it other than as an evidence that they have conceived, and
consequently do not complain of it. A few who have heard the old
adage, "a sick pregnancy means a safe one," which incidentally is not
correct, actually accept nausea as a favorable sign. In other cases
the nausea is not to be dismissed so lightly; and a relatively small
group of patients suffer from persistent vomiting. When prospective
mothers are questioned systematically, it appears that at least one-
half and perhaps two-thirds of them experience more or less
discomfort from sick stomach. Generally this begins shortly after a
menstrual period has been missed and ceases six or eight weeks later;