My mother-in-law found a letter
she wrote her parents during her hospital stay when she delivered her second child in 1957. She has graciously granted permission to share. I am not giving any commentary, as I feel it important for you, the reader, to have your own experience with a birth story from 63 years ago. What has changed? What is the same? Can you relate to the struggles? Do you experience the triumphs? What is important to birthing women in any time period? Enjoy.
Sunday morning
Sept. 8, 1957
Dear Mama and Daddy,
I felt like I wanted to write you yesterday all about the birth of our baby, but Jerry forgot to bring the paper until last night. Actually, I didn’t feel as much like writing yesterday as I do today.
When we checked in we had our choice of rooms in the maternity ward (all of them are private), and we chose one with a semi-private bath. But since John was born the babies have been coming thick and fast – sometimes both delivery rooms are in use at once. The nurse told me at 6:00 this morning that she had 18 babies, and since then 2 have been born and they just took another girl to the delivery room. (It is now 9:00). They are much busier than usual this morning. It’s time for John to be brought for his feeding, but no telling when
they’ll get around to that.
I started having pains
at 4:30 Friday morning. We got up early since Jerry was to be at the base at 7:00 for a hop [aviation slang for flight], and I announced it while we were eating. But then they got much milder. However, we all thought things could speed up and labor could go fast since it was my second, so he got out of his hop. And when those mild pains started coming real close together, he and his mother thought I’d better get on to the hospital. (And we did drive, even though we live within a block.) By the time we had checked in, (it was 9:00 a.m.) and I had been brought to the room (the nurse insisted I had to ride in the wheel chair) the pains had completely stopped, and I did feel silly! I was ready to go home again, but they assured me the enema would probably make labor start again. And thank good-
ness it did. Then Dr. Lambeth checked me and told me to walk around, and put my mind to it, and labor would get started. So I paced the floor for quite a while until the pains were coming regularly and strongly, and then I wasn’t sorry we came so early – those false pains might have kept up much longer. Around 9 hours after labor started in earnest John was born. If anyone had told me they suspected he’d be large I’m sure I would have been worried about my labor. I know this child ought to come faster than Paula did, because everyone I know has had short second labor, and I really was not worried about it at all – just figured my body was sluggish this time or something.
After feeding John.
In a way I enjoyed labor
a little more this time because
I liked the nurse better who was with me, and because Jerry was with me constantly for the last several hours – I think it was from about 2:00PM on. He was scheduled for a lecture and a cockpit check that afternoon but got out of them. I’m surely glad it wasn’t a day he had a court.
This labor was harder
than before, but when I found out how big John was I understood why. When the pains got to be real strong the nurse brought a mask for Jerry to hold. I don’t know what the gas was, but it helped. He held his hand on my stomach, and when a contraction began he held the mask over my nose and mouth, and when it was over he’d remove it. Finally after I had been breathing it for some time I was so drowsy between contractions I hardly knew what was going on. I don’t know what time Dr. Lambeth got here, but it was in plenty of time. I do know that when I heard
him and saw him in the room how good I felt. Then a while later when I realized nurses were standing beside my bed with the cart, ready to go to the delivery room – what a relief that was. As I got in there I began to wake up because I wasn’t having the gas. It wasn’t too long until he gave me the anesthetic – I had a “saddle block” this time and a “caudal” before. After the anesthetic I could still feel the pains around my waist and back, unlike the other time when they were completely numbed. But it wasn’t long before that boy was born. And Jerry was very near by in the hall and was told immediately. I knew he’d be so happy.
I could watch
the entire delivery in a mirror, and what a thrill that was. I couldn’t see Paula being born. I did miss seeing the afterbirth, I guess because I turned my
head to see the baby after the nurses carried him over to a crib. They were all saying how large he was, and made guesses as to his weight, but none guessed as high as 10 pounds. When the nurse came back in and announced that I thought she was kidding – I could not believe I had a baby that big. He measured 22 inches long, head 15″ around, and chest 14 1/4″. He really stands out in the nursey because he has such a large head. Most of the others’ heads are about 13″.
He’s not exactly pretty
yet, except that he’s not so red, and more filled out, and has less hair than many of the others. He has just a nice amount of light brown hair over his head – less than Paula had. His mouth looks just like hers did. His cheeks are so fat and round and his neck is thick and his shoulders are broad. His eyes are blue, but the lids are rather puffy. He’s been quite the sleepy boy and often doesn’t open them when he’s in here. They bring him ’round the clock, about every 3 hours. His head is not prettily shaped, but we are sure it will soon look better.
Sunday evening
I had to ask Jerry to bring me more paper because I had tons more to write about.
John’s head is rather long in back. To me he looks very much like Paula looked in the face when she was born. His funny little ear-lobes are pushed upward because of his riding head-down with his shoulders pressed down against his ears for so many months. We know they’ll straighten out too. He was born looking like a football player.
Mrs. Stinson and Paula came to the hospital Friday night while I was having John, since it was visiting hours. She left Paula downstairs with someone watching her, and came up and saw John in the incubator and saw me for a few minutes. They put the newborn babies in the incubator for a few hours, regardless of size, I guess. Then the nurse dressed him and brought him to the room for me to see before I went
to sleep.
They told Paula that Mommy and Baby John were both sleeping, and say she has seemed perfectly happy about it. She has come along two or three times at visiting time (oh, by the way, husbands don’t have to observe visiting hours here, so Jerry could come in the morning also), and just loves to sit downstairs and sip a coke and chew a gum-ball, and maybe look down the hall or look at a magazine or just sit. But they say she seems to understand that “Mommy’s sleeping” and she can’t come upstairs. In fact yesterday afternoon, Mrs. Stinson was taking her home, but when they got outside Paula cocked her head to one side in a way she has, and said, “I hafta go back to the hospital,” so back they came.
I have felt so much better
during this hospital stay. Part of the reason was getting up after 12 hours. A nurse helped me to the bathroom, and I
sat on a chair and had a sponge bath. Dr. Lambeth said I could get up as much as I felt like doing. My stitches haven’t seemed to hurt as much either. I don’t think I have any more stitches than I had the first time – the doctor said that anyway.
I’ll be going home
tomorrow after the 9:00 AM feeding. Of course I will rest a lot for these first several days, and I will surely need you to help out after Mrs. Stinson leaves. I was glad to hear the you were coming for sure, Mama, and that Daddy may too. I sorta hope Mary’s baby is a few days late, because she deserves to have Mrs. Stinson there to help her as much as she helped me. I felt so much better during those last few weeks because of not getting so tired. We’ll look for you sometime next weekend, so let us know.
Can’t wait for you to see our fine big boy, and our big girl too.
Love,
Francis
A PDF version of the entire birth story