What was giving birth to you like for you mother?

[Papillon]

Mum had a quick hospital birth with me, I arrived at 5am. Dad was not allowed to attend and so was milking the cows, he saw the sunrise and hence my middle name became Dawn

Amazing how many similar stories to my Mothers..... I was 14 days overdue, she was nearly 48 hours in labour with me, had to finally have a 'mild' general so they could pull me out with forceps, had an episiotomy, loads of stitches and she wasn't allowed to pick me up for 24 hours! She then spent two weeks in hospital 'resting' which she said was just perfect - they had daily exercises to do, babies slept in the nursery, (breastfeeding not encouraged) and were brought to them at strict times to feed. So I came home on 4 hourly feeds and sleeping through the night!

She always thought that I would have a similar labour for some reason - DD1 'popped' out within 4 hours of arriving at hospital thank goodness. Went home within 48 hours, breastfed until she was 18 months and she didn't sleep though until 9 monhs - Mum always felt they did it 'right' in her days!

My parents had arranged for my dad to be present - unusual in 1961, espcially in rural South Africa! Their GP was a young guy that they knew - but unfortunately he was away when mum went into labour, so it was his old fasioned father who was overseeing the delivery. He tried to tell dad to leave the room - but my mum said if he left, she would stop pushing! he was relucatantly allowed to stay - but was told in no uncertain terms to "keep out the way".

My mum also had antenatal relaxation classes from a Swedish physio - very avant garde for South Africa! I actually met the lady about 15 years ago, when I was back visiting my granny, which was nice.

Mum was also thought of as strange for breast feeding, rather than the more "modern" formula feeding

3 weeks in a hospital before i was born (spent wedding night in hospital wedding planned not me!), long birth, episotomy and popped me out! 10 days later she took me home.

my dad was with her and she had 14 visitors at tea time, i was born at 12pm

oh, and she b/fed me every two hours for 5 months, then i got teeth and bit her, so she deciede enought was enough.
22 years ago, she was told to do 10 mins on 'each side' so she did for a while but then did what she wanted. she found it easy, which was lucky as she did not have much support.

I am the 2nd of three girls. We were all about two weeks early however mum was in and out of labour over 2 days with my oldest sister but was sleeping on and off, with a student midwife monitoring her contractions, went to sleep and woke up needing to push. With both myself and my older sister she had felt twinges during the day but didn't think she was in labour and then had antenatal appointments in the afternoon and they told her to go home, cook dinner and wait for my dad to get home from work! She went into the hospital with me at 7.00pm and I was born at 8.04pm.

I had a 12 and a half hour labour with my DD who was 13 days early and went to hospital at 2.30pm and she was born at 3.36pm. Spooky.

I was late (and have continued to be for 31 yrs !).

I weighed just over 4 lbs and was in special care for 2 weeks. My Mum wasn't well either, not sure why.

So I've had it easy with my 3 fairly straightforward births (even if they were all late too!).

I was a breech baby delivered naturally and forceps. I was 6lb 11oz.
Thats all I know!

Ds was also a breech which is interesting.

Fairly normally for 1967 - in hospital prior to the birth with varicose veins.
No pain relieve; I was born weighing 8lb 6oz and then 15 minutes later she pushed out my brother weighing 8lb 3oz!!!!! She was quite big apparently .

My Dad accompanied my mum to the hospital, they sent him home and kept her in, said it was very early stages, told my Dad to ring in the morning. He had to walk an hour long journey home in the middle of the night

He called back at 9.00am next day and I had been born at 8am. Midwife told my mum to shut up and stop being silly when she screamed when my head came out

my mum always say she can't remember much about our actual births (5 of us) apart from my baby bro who wasn't breathing at birth.
I have part of a CTG strip for me tho, and my name which is cute.

My dad tells a story of when he was uni he was staying as a lodger to an Irish woman. One morning him and the other student there came down to breakfast to find the table laid and a note saying 'just gone to hospital to have a baby, please get your own breakfast'
She was back by teatime to cook the evening meal!

My Dad always ahd this tale about how when D-sis was born, there was a taxi strike on (that's true) so he tried to hitch for the 20 miles journey home from taking Mum to hospital, and the only one that stopped was a Rolls royce whose driver ahd also just taken his wife to hospital. Pah! Said we, whata liar.

At senior school, my sister sat next to the daughter, whose dad remembered the lift, and he ahd called his daughter by the name Dad had said he was going to use- they were both called Nicola. They're still best mates

Mum had been in hospital for 3 months after 2 months bed rest at home (she was in danger of losing me) so as she told it she had no muscles at all and no energy for labour.
She had a midwife and a nun who was training to go out and "minister" to mothers in third world countries.
The nun was decidedly unimpressed by my mums bad language and told her so to which my mum replied "if you are ever in this position you will be f***g swearing" - added to this the midwife and Nun were about a foot apart in height which didnt help in the final stages when they wanted her to put her feet on their shoulders to push!!

I was the second baby and so mum thought it would be quicker, but it was a longer birth around 22hrs of what she remembers, when i was born the midwife ran out the room shouting for help, the cord was double wrapped round my neck so my mum put 2 fingers through the cord to hold it out from my neck, midwife returned with a doctor and i was taken to special care for a week.

I was the second baby and so mum thought it would be quicker, but it was a longer birth around 22hrs of what she remembers, when i was born the midwife ran out the room shouting for help, the cord was double wrapped round my neck so my mum put 2 fingers through the cord to hold it out from my neck, midwife returned with a doctor and i was taken to special care for a week.

My mum had me in hospital in the 50's when most people had homebirths. Her Dr was on holiday and the locum gp told mum the baby was v small and she should be in hospital. I think labour was pretty straightforward and at birth I was 9lb 8oz, lol! She came home after two days.

My bro was born at home in 35mins, almost on the stairs as mum struggled up them to the bedroom.

The big difference for my mum is in the help she received afterwards. In those days everyone had a home-help for 6 weeks, someone who did the laundry, cleaning, cooking and looked after other children while mum concentrated on the baby.

My mum had been to see her consultant on the 4th, who said I was breech and to come back the next day for a section. She said it was her birthday the following day so they arranged for the 6th. Mum went home, went to bed. Got up in the morning, picked her birthday cards up off the floor and her waters broke. I came quite fast, almost in the back of an ambulance. I was a natural delivery, all 10lbs 3oz of me, born feet first to my 5ft tall mother on her birthday.
Bless her!

c section. so mom doesnt remember any of it.

My mum had the (then) trendy French 'childbirth without pain' breathing techniques (Lamaze?) - It was basically a form of self-hypnosis she was taught intensively in one-to-one classes. I was breech, so they knocked her out with gas for the last bit and pulled me out feet first - she was furious she 'missed out on it'. My brother shot out in 2 hours flat 14 months later. The nice family doctor who delivered him kept holding her hand and yelling, 'Now, you're SURE your husband's the father?!' She made childbirth sound like Heaven...

My mum went to natural childbirth classes which even my dad thought were a bit strange. She did the techniques all the way through labour, and refused to go to hospital until her natural childbirth teacher arrived. Changed her mind when after her waters broke all over the carpet, she went to the loo, looked down and could see my head! Teacher arrived at that moment and shouted "get this woman to the hospital!" I was very nearly born in the back of a car, which was driven to hospital on the wrong side of the (london)road, headlights on full beam, with my dad holding the horn down the whole way there. (Apparently they went past several police cars - my dad hoped for an escort but they ignored him!)She said there was no time for pain relief and didn't bother with it the next two times as she didn't see the point, having already done it once.

My DB almost turned intoemergency section as they couldnt findheartbeat (30 years ago) so they told my mum to stop pushing but my dad was in the room and told her to push to avoid the section he arrived 4 minutes later and peed and pooed everywhere. With me my mum had fallen down the stairs the day befre DR came in the morning told her everythng fine and wouldnt be having me for another 4 weeks my due date) as he left her waters broke she phone my dad at 11am he arrived home at 11.15am and delivered me on their bed at 11.19am with my brother wandering around asking my dad to play spiderman with him paramedics turned up at 11.24am. Although to this day she has problems because of how quick my birth was and has had lots of operations and ended up with hysteratomy at 31(spelling?)!!

My poor Mother had me at 43 I was her fifth child and weighed in at 11lb 11oz apparently they couldn't find an incubator big enough for me !?! That was 1967. I came out ready for school

Wait until you hear my birth, this is my mother account so take with a pinch of salt.

Anyway the day before I was born she was carrying a bucket of coal upstairs to their falt when she fell. The next morning she woke up covered in blood so she got dressed and staggered round to my aunts house (no phone in those days) my aunt phoned the GP who came round and examined my Mum told her she was haemorraging (spp) and the placenta was coming first but he could still feel the baby kick. She got to hospital and my Dad arrived to ne told there was a 50/50 chance any of us would survive. Oh apparently she was only 7 month pregnant too but somehow I think her dates are mixed up.

Anyway she told them she wasn't having a caesarian and that she could have the baby herself. She was put on a drip and given blood and my aunt gave her a few puffs on a ciggie as she couldn't do it herself! She thinks she was given pethidine but doesn't remember anything after that.

I was 5lbs 4ozs when born and put in an incubator, she wan't strong enough to see me until I was 3 days old. She stayed in hospital 10 days afterwards, I was in for about 3 weeks after that I think. She was given tablets to "scatter" her milk which she says were the best things ever as she didn't have them with my brother and it was agony. Only utter fruitloops breastfed.

I came home on 4 hourly bottles and apparently slept for 18 hours a day without a break which the nurses said was normal. I was weaned at 6 weeks too.

How many times do you think I've heard "I nearly died having you, I had to have 8 pints of blood you know!!!"