We are happy for my son and his wife, they are in their late 50's and have been waiting for a long time!!
The Beauty of Childbirth
- Thread starter SandyR
- Start date
DaveA
Senior Member
- Location
- Coastal Massachusetts, USA
Same here Pappy but in all truth, back then, I never gave it a second thought. It was the way things were.Back a hundred years ago, nurses wouldn’t let me go to the delivery room. I have always regretted that as I would have loved to see my children born. Stupid rules back then.
jujube
SF VIP
I only had one child and it was a long time before I was interested in even thinking about having another.
I was in Turkey, we didn't have a full hospital on the base, just a dispensary. If you had a baby there, there was no full anesthesia available. So mothers-to-be were sent by small plane to Ankara 10 days to two weeks before their due date. There was only one flight a week.
My OB said I was nowhere near to delivery but he felt that I should get on the plane going out the following day "just in case". I did and I went into labor the morning after getting to Ankara. I was staying in a hotel and thought the first two hours of labor was just bad "gas pains". When the "gas pains" started coming every five minutes, I decided that I'd just ignore them and maybe they'd go away. They didn't. So I got dressed and went down to the lobby to ask them to call the hospital for me. The Turkish man at the desk said, "No worry, Mama, we never have baby born here yet." I'm reassured.
An elderly Turkish gentleman comes for me, explains that since there is rioting in the streets (it's the anniversary of the death of Ataturk, so it's a big holiday), the hospital couldn't send the ambulance with U.S. markings on it. So, he came in an unmarked hearse for me. Yep, a big black hearse, which he made me get in the back for safety. So, we're on the way to the military hospital. I can't see anything but I can hear all the sirens and shouting and breaking glass and at one time something hits the side of the hearse.
We get to the hospital, which is a converted old apartment building, and there is no electricity except for the emergency generators that are only being used for surgical and other essential needs. So, no elevator. The maternity ward is on the 2nd floor. Walk up a few steps, clutch the banister until the contraction passes, walk up a few more steps. Get to the maternity ward and they tell me my records are locked in the office and nobody has the key. Well, hecky-dern, this baby ain't waiting for records. I get prepped and then it's time to walk up two more floors to the surgical suite. Rinse and repeat.
I get an epidural. My daughter is born, no complications for either of us. By then, the elevator is working, so I don't have to walk down two flights of steps. I'm grateful. I actually only had 4 hours and 45 minutes of labor, including the two hours of "gas pains", so I'm really grateful.
Nursery is run by Corpsmen....all men. It's supervised by a female corpsman, but that's about all she does....supervise. They are fantastic. One big bear of a guy can pick up a baby with one hand. I get up in the middle of the night one time and see him in the nursery, in a rocking chair holding five babies and singing lullabies. I feel my daughter is in good hands.
Eight days later, we fly home to Daddy, who is glad to see his girls. The flight was awful. At one time, I seriously thought we were going to go down in the mountains, never to be seen again.
We decided that one was enough.
I was in Turkey, we didn't have a full hospital on the base, just a dispensary. If you had a baby there, there was no full anesthesia available. So mothers-to-be were sent by small plane to Ankara 10 days to two weeks before their due date. There was only one flight a week.
My OB said I was nowhere near to delivery but he felt that I should get on the plane going out the following day "just in case". I did and I went into labor the morning after getting to Ankara. I was staying in a hotel and thought the first two hours of labor was just bad "gas pains". When the "gas pains" started coming every five minutes, I decided that I'd just ignore them and maybe they'd go away. They didn't. So I got dressed and went down to the lobby to ask them to call the hospital for me. The Turkish man at the desk said, "No worry, Mama, we never have baby born here yet." I'm reassured.
An elderly Turkish gentleman comes for me, explains that since there is rioting in the streets (it's the anniversary of the death of Ataturk, so it's a big holiday), the hospital couldn't send the ambulance with U.S. markings on it. So, he came in an unmarked hearse for me. Yep, a big black hearse, which he made me get in the back for safety. So, we're on the way to the military hospital. I can't see anything but I can hear all the sirens and shouting and breaking glass and at one time something hits the side of the hearse.
We get to the hospital, which is a converted old apartment building, and there is no electricity except for the emergency generators that are only being used for surgical and other essential needs. So, no elevator. The maternity ward is on the 2nd floor. Walk up a few steps, clutch the banister until the contraction passes, walk up a few more steps. Get to the maternity ward and they tell me my records are locked in the office and nobody has the key. Well, hecky-dern, this baby ain't waiting for records. I get prepped and then it's time to walk up two more floors to the surgical suite. Rinse and repeat.
I get an epidural. My daughter is born, no complications for either of us. By then, the elevator is working, so I don't have to walk down two flights of steps. I'm grateful. I actually only had 4 hours and 45 minutes of labor, including the two hours of "gas pains", so I'm really grateful.
Nursery is run by Corpsmen....all men. It's supervised by a female corpsman, but that's about all she does....supervise. They are fantastic. One big bear of a guy can pick up a baby with one hand. I get up in the middle of the night one time and see him in the nursery, in a rocking chair holding five babies and singing lullabies. I feel my daughter is in good hands.
Eight days later, we fly home to Daddy, who is glad to see his girls. The flight was awful. At one time, I seriously thought we were going to go down in the mountains, never to be seen again.
We decided that one was enough.
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NorthernLight
Well-known Member
- Location
- Northern BC
@jujube Now that you mention it (mothers-to-be being sent elsewhere to give birth), that's how it is in the town where I live. Expectant mothers are made to "sign a paper." I don't know what the paper says or how it's enforced. Maybe it just lets the local doctors off the hook.
Anyway, the mothers are supposed to go hundreds of kilometers away, a month before their due date. They stay with relatives or in a hotel, or wherever they can. Sometimes the husbands wait with them, but I suppose some have to work.
People keep having babies though.
Anyway, the mothers are supposed to go hundreds of kilometers away, a month before their due date. They stay with relatives or in a hotel, or wherever they can. Sometimes the husbands wait with them, but I suppose some have to work.
People keep having babies though.
Teacher Terry
Well-known Member
My youngest son was born in 1980 and that’s the only time my husband was allowed in the delivery room.
Tish
SF VIP
- Location
- Rural N.S.W. Australia
Pappy
Living the Dream
How true Dave. Back then we had to wait in the lobby and smoke a pack of cigarettes, or at least I did.
There was a mirror. I wasn't wearing my glasses so I couldn't see, but in Madison WI in 1980 there was a mirror.
Hub was in room, but the nurse had to drag him in as he was trying on various gowns to get the right fit. I'm not kidding. He lost his mind.............from fear, IMO
we never discussed it.
childbirth......wow.........10.4 baby boy, 120 stitches, couldnt sit down for a month ....
he was worth it tho....his skin was beautiful, he was like a 6month old baby ....
very wary with the 2nd son......carried differently, ....but he was 9.4....and i was in labour for 30mins, plus he nearly flew off the bed
husband present? .....no thankyou.......i sent him to football as his team was playing ...
he was worth it tho....his skin was beautiful, he was like a 6month old baby ....
very wary with the 2nd son......carried differently, ....but he was 9.4....and i was in labour for 30mins, plus he nearly flew off the bed
husband present? .....no thankyou.......i sent him to football as his team was playing ...
I forgot to add, stitched up to my tonsils and then, they expected me to breastfeed !!
I don’t think so...
I bottle fed !!!! I saw so many mums trying to breastfeed with their babies not getting any milk which turned out all the mums were crying and the babies were screaming OMGI forgot to add, stitched up to my tonsils and then, they expected me to breastfeed !!
I don’t think so...
Murrmurr
SF VIP
- Location
- Sacramento, California
We lived up north at the time, and the hospital wasn't very progressive. Or maybe, with 2 lives at stake, they just didn't want any gawkers, vomiters, or fainters getting in the way.....causing distractions, draining resources.
Kind of a funny story; a few years after I moved from there, hospital policy changed, and my cousin who was still living there got to watch his son's birth in that same hospital (the only hospital up there). He told me he passed out during the delivery, and one of the nurses just grabbed him by the foot and dragged his body over near a wall so everyone could back to business. He came to just a few minutes later, but by that time it was over. The same nurse smiled down at him and said, "Get up so you can see your son."
Paco Dennis
SF VIP
- Location
- Mid-Missouri
Murrmurr
SF VIP
- Location
- Sacramento, California
As witness to a few of my grandkids' birth, I have to say I don't think birth is a beautiful sight. A beautiful thing, yes, but I wouldn't describe it as lovely to look at. It's no more beautiful than watching a newborn giraffe just walk away shaking off hitting the ground from 7 feet up. The word for that is amazing. And the sight of a human giving birth is amazing, too, but that word just doesn't capture it. It's freaking surreal, astoundingly impossible, frightening, and gory; it defies logic, and it's life-altering. And I saw all that hit my sons all at once. It's no wonder some men faint or vomit or hyperventilate, especially young men.
Be careful what ya wish for.Back a hundred years ago, nurses wouldn’t let me go to the delivery room. I have always regretted that as I would have loved to see my children born. Stupid rules back then.
Pappy
Living the Dream
It’s okay win. I’ve forgotten how we made them..Be careful what ya wish for.
hollydolly
SF VIP
- Location
- London England
IKE
Well-known Member
- Location
- Oklahoma....U.S.A.
Oct. 71' in VN working as a civilian.
I'd just got in from the field and an older neighbor lady came trotting over and told me as I was unlocking the door that my 1st wife had gone to the private birthing hospital a few hours prior.......the hospital was pretty much just a one story small house with six or eight cubicles and far from modern but it was the best that they had.
Me being dirty, funky and needing a shower badly didn't matter I jumped on the neighbors motorcycle and tore across town to the hospital.......they didn't speak english there and my Vietnamese at the time wasn't all that good so I just kept repeating her name over and over till they understood and they finally got across to me to have a seat.
Apparently they had gone back and told her that I was there and I just paced back and forth while chain smoking cigarettes for what seemed like forever and all of a sudden I hear her scream , "Honey !!"......with nurses trotting behind me telling me in Vietnamese that I wasn't allowed to be back there I went running down the hall opening cubicles curtains along the way and about that time I hear her scream again, "Honey !!" which brought me running to her cubicle and once inside the nurses inside kept telling me to leave but I made it very plain by my actions and tone of voice that I wasn't going anywhere till I knew that my wife was okay.
When I entered they were still holding my son and hadn't yet cut the umbilical cord and as cold as it may sound I wasn't interested in him, I was concerned about my wife being alright......she saw me and gave me a weak smile and told me to go home and come back in the morning but wanting to be near her I spent the night in the waiting room and what little sleep I got was on the floor.
After getting her home the next day she said that the nurses had came and told her that I hadn't left and gone home like she'd ask after giving birth and that I was in the waiting room......she said that just knowing that I was only a few feet away made her feel better and more at ease after the birth.
We haven't seen each other in over thirty years and still remain friends to this day.......my son and three grand kids live in Georgia and my ex lives in southern Texas.
That was my one and only experience with child birth.
I'd just got in from the field and an older neighbor lady came trotting over and told me as I was unlocking the door that my 1st wife had gone to the private birthing hospital a few hours prior.......the hospital was pretty much just a one story small house with six or eight cubicles and far from modern but it was the best that they had.
Me being dirty, funky and needing a shower badly didn't matter I jumped on the neighbors motorcycle and tore across town to the hospital.......they didn't speak english there and my Vietnamese at the time wasn't all that good so I just kept repeating her name over and over till they understood and they finally got across to me to have a seat.
Apparently they had gone back and told her that I was there and I just paced back and forth while chain smoking cigarettes for what seemed like forever and all of a sudden I hear her scream , "Honey !!"......with nurses trotting behind me telling me in Vietnamese that I wasn't allowed to be back there I went running down the hall opening cubicles curtains along the way and about that time I hear her scream again, "Honey !!" which brought me running to her cubicle and once inside the nurses inside kept telling me to leave but I made it very plain by my actions and tone of voice that I wasn't going anywhere till I knew that my wife was okay.
When I entered they were still holding my son and hadn't yet cut the umbilical cord and as cold as it may sound I wasn't interested in him, I was concerned about my wife being alright......she saw me and gave me a weak smile and told me to go home and come back in the morning but wanting to be near her I spent the night in the waiting room and what little sleep I got was on the floor.
After getting her home the next day she said that the nurses had came and told her that I hadn't left and gone home like she'd ask after giving birth and that I was in the waiting room......she said that just knowing that I was only a few feet away made her feel better and more at ease after the birth.
We haven't seen each other in over thirty years and still remain friends to this day.......my son and three grand kids live in Georgia and my ex lives in southern Texas.
That was my one and only experience with child birth.
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jujube
SF VIP
I bottle fed, too.
They gave me a shot to dry up my milk (I hear they don't do that anymore because it's bad for you) but a month later my milk came in anyway. That's when I found out that what I thought was a flat mole on my breast was an "ancillary nipple" with its own milk gland and it was producing milk, too.
Apparently that would have gotten me hung as a witch in Salem. Lucky me I was 5000 miles and 278 years from Massachusetts.
jujube
SF VIP
1947. My mother is pregnant and getting her prenatal care at a hospital clinic because my dad was in college and they didn't have much money. She saw a different doctor about every visit.
She goes into labor, goes to the hospital, and proceeds to be in labor for 54 hours. Each doctor comes on duty, attends to her and then passes her on to the next doctor. Today, the doctor pretty much stays at the hospital during the entire performance so it is in the DOCTOR'S best interest to hurry the procedure along because HE WANTS TO GO HOME!
By the end of the 54 hours, her elbows are bloody from digging into the bed and she has worn a bald spot on the back of her head from thrashing around. I'm born a dark purple and they fear there's brain damage (the jury is still out on that...LOL). My mom is about dead from exhaustion.
She loses the next five babies (four miscarriages and one full-term stillbirth) but manages to give successful birth to three more.
Can you imagine the lawsuit that would ensue today if something like that happened???
My late husband was #9 of 11 kids. He was born in the hospital parking lot.
She goes into labor, goes to the hospital, and proceeds to be in labor for 54 hours. Each doctor comes on duty, attends to her and then passes her on to the next doctor. Today, the doctor pretty much stays at the hospital during the entire performance so it is in the DOCTOR'S best interest to hurry the procedure along because HE WANTS TO GO HOME!
By the end of the 54 hours, her elbows are bloody from digging into the bed and she has worn a bald spot on the back of her head from thrashing around. I'm born a dark purple and they fear there's brain damage (the jury is still out on that...LOL). My mom is about dead from exhaustion.
She loses the next five babies (four miscarriages and one full-term stillbirth) but manages to give successful birth to three more.
Can you imagine the lawsuit that would ensue today if something like that happened???
My late husband was #9 of 11 kids. He was born in the hospital parking lot.
hollydolly
SF VIP
- Location
- London England
don't forget the Push Present...Me too.
These days the latest craze is too posh to push.