L&D-Maternity 1950's Style

Am sitting here watching "Father's Little Dividend" and it really strikes you how far maternity, L&D has come in 50 years.

The word "pregant" is never mentioned, instead respectable married women like Miss. Taylor's character are "having a baby". Both sets of parents are prefectly free to contact, visit the OB and openly discuss "how things are going", and probe the doctor about his new methods all without apparently the patient's consent or knowledge.

It seems expectant mother's planned for along stay in hospital as they arrive with cases packed with bed jackets, night gowns, and other assorted "intimate apparel" to last a trans-Atlantic cruise.

First sign of labour, the couple rush to hospital, greeted by a nurse who sends the husband to admitting and after that to cool his jets in the "Father's Waiting Room", while the soon mother to be is taken into her rooms. Here she will wait until labour reaches it's natural conclusion. After birth the new mother is sent to her room, and baby goes off to the newborn nursery. Here we find what seems to be a score or more of scrub dress wearing nurses (complete with scrub hats and masks) to care for Baby. The closest family and friends can get to Baby is through the window of the nursery.

Kind of makes childbirth sound like a vacation!
Too cute. Hard to believe the men used to not watch the birth and now its such a given. They're even setting up webcams at our naval hospital so that military dads don't have to *miss* the event when they are deployed.((I like how old shows always show couples having rooms with seperate twin beds.))

My grandmother gave birth to her first child in 1950. She went into labor in mid-afternoon, by the time it had progressed the Dr. had gone home for the day. The nurse thought it was inappropriate to make him come back to the hospital, so they tied her legs together, and then to the table, until he came back to work the next morning. The baby barely survived. Life always looks better in the movies.

Quote from coast2coastMy grandmother gave birth to her first child in 1950. She went into labor in mid-afternoon, by the time it had progressed the Dr. had gone home for the day. The nurse thought it was inappropriate to make him come back to the hospital, so they tied her legs together, and then to the table, until he came back to work the next morning. The baby barely survived.

Quote from coast2coastMy grandmother gave birth to her first child in 1950. She went into labor in mid-afternoon, by the time it had progressed the Dr. had gone home for the day. The nurse thought it was inappropriate to make him come back to the hospital, so they tied her legs together, and then to the table, until he came back to work the next morning. The baby barely survived. Life always looks better in the movies.

My mother-in-law gave birth to her first child in 1953. It was a normal vaginal delivery, with mom under general anesthesia. She stayed inpatient for a week and was taken home by ambulance. They carted her on her gurney up the flight of stairs to her apartment.Normal birth, healthy mom and baby.

My FIL always thinks the progression of his children's births were funny. In 1971 they had their oldest and he was shown to the waiting room. In 1975 they had their second and he was asked if he wanted to come in the room and he declined. In 1979 when my husband was born they treated him like the biggest jerk for not joining his wife in the delivery room.

I was born in 1965, the youngest of 7 children. My mother went to the hospital only to be sent back home. Fast forward 6 hours, and its time to go back to the hospital. Dad is at work, but the Preacher lives next door, and he agrees to take Mom to the hospital. Five miles down the road, they pull over because I had made my entrance into the world. The preacher knocks on a door, and a midwife comes and takes me into her house (Its January) to take care of me.Moms says had it not been for the midwife, that she would have prob. just let me have died! I'm like MOTHER what do you mean? Didn't you love me? she said.. Well I didn't know what to do, you were just lying there between my legs. I'm like MOTHER! you had 6 babies before me, how could you NOT know what to do?? She said I was always ASLEEP when I had them! !@#%@!

Quote from roser13My mother-in-law gave birth to her first child in 1953. It was a normal vaginal delivery, with mom under general anesthesia. She stayed inpatient for a week and was taken home by ambulance. They carted her on her gurney up the flight of stairs to her apartment.Normal birth, healthy mom and baby.

Well, I was born at home in 1947 because mother, having had 4 previous deliveries, decided she couldn't leave her 3 living children (a sister had died the previous fall at age 3) while being in the hospital 10 days to 2 weeks post partum. The doctor came to the house. No problems encountered. But, back then, women were kept on absolute bedrest for a week or more after delivery, twilight sleep (demerol and scopolamine) was often used (the woman remembered nothing about being in hard leather restraints for the entire end of labor and the delivery), and women were considered "odd" if they wanted to breastfeed. Mother didn't have to go through that at home and was grateful for the freedom to do it her way.When my sister had premature twins in 1957, she was not allowed into the nursery to hold or touch them until they were ready to be discharged home. She looked at them through the famous window in the nursery. And she wondered why the cleaning lady was allowed in there with no fanfare and she wasn't allowed in to touch her own babies.I'm not at all wanting to go back to the "good old days" that some people remember so fondly. They weren't all that good for me and mine.