# Rural birth in the 1930s



## ~Megan~ (Nov 7, 2002)

I know my g-grandma gave birth to all but her twins at home but I don't know any other details. My grandma passed away and she's the only relative that would know much about it as she was the oldest girl.

This was in southern Missouri. It would have included the early 30s and 40s. I don't know if she had a doctor or midwife.
the twins were born after gg was 40 and she had them in a "clinic".

I'd appreciate any insight you might have to what the experience may have been like.


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## USAmma (Nov 29, 2001)

My great-grandma had both her kids at home (one later died b/c he was a "blue baby"-- we think bad heart







). When I talked to her about this years ago she said that the town doctor came and she had the babies in the bedroom while g-grandpa paced the floors downstairs. I wish I knew to ask more details before she passed away, but I wasn't a mother then and the subject didn't interest me much.

My grandmother had a baby in the late 40's and one in the early 50's. Both were born at hospitals. One in Hawaii and one in California. With both births she labored for several hours in bed, and then when it was time to have the baby she was given something on a cloth against her nose that made her fall asleep, and she woke up with new babies. I am not sure how the babies were born. . . did the uterus push them out eventually (which I know is possible even when the mother is not actively pushing), or was it routine to use forceps?

She did breastfeed her firstborn for a few weeks, which was not the conventional thing to do. I give her a lot of credit for that. She had a breast infection (from the way she describes it it sounds like a plugged duct with mastitis) when my uncle was a few weeks old and had to get it surgically drained, lost her milk, and was advised not to bf any future babies.


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## Crunchier (Jun 26, 2003)

USAmma said:


> My grandmother had a baby in the late 40's and one in the early 50's. Both were born at hospitals. One in Hawaii and one in California. With both births she labored for several hours in bed, and then when it was time to have the baby she was given something on a cloth against her nose that made her fall asleep, and she woke up with new babies. I am not sure how the babies were born. . . did the uterus push them out eventually (which I know is possible even when the mother is not actively pushing), or was it routine to use forceps?
> 
> It was ether on the cloth, and it was common to use forceps. Sometimes they were not necessary it later births, but this is where the back birthing position and routine episiotomy come from. It was also common for an attendant to push on the top of the uterus to force the baby out. My mom had an attendant who did that with her first birth, though I believe she had an epidural because she was numb, but conscious. Her last 2 labors were natural, though.


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## melamama (Oct 8, 2002)

My father grew up on a farm. He was born in 1932, and the oldest of seven. He was born in a hospital, but all of his siblings were born at home.

He has memories of his mom being in labor, working in the field, being told to go find the local doctor. For a few of the births the doc made it, for a few he arrived after she'd had the baby and was already in bed nursing. In his memory the doc didn't do much. He remembers hanging out and him smoking cigarettes, sometimes my grandfather was there sometimes not--he worked in the coal mines so sometimes he just couldn't get there.

Given the spacing of him and his siblings, she probably would have been on to her fourth by the time he was old enough to have these memories--so that probably has something to do with the relaxed behavior about the births.

This grandmother was a tough cookie though. Her advice to my aunt when she was pg, "make sure you always carry a pair of scissors in your apron"..."in case the baby comes and you're alone, so you can cut the umbilical cord". My father also remembers her up and frying pork chops for my grandfather the morning after one of his brothers was born.


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## anniegirl (May 17, 2005)

I love these stories! I wish there was a book of them.

My great-grandmother birthed eleven babies at home with only her mother or sister in attendance. The youngest was born in the early 1930's. They were not rural though, they lived in a big town, but they were Christian Scientist, so never went to the doctor for anything. All eleven survived to adulthood too (my grandfather was the first to pass away, in a car accident, I think he was 35) She bf'ed for a long time too. One of my great uncles can remember nursing.

My aunt's (by marriage) mother, C, was from Poland but came to the U.S. as a small child. When she was a teenager she saved up her money and went back to Poland to visit family for several months (I think it must have been the late '20s or early 1930's). They were rural farmers. One day C was out working in the fields with an aunt and all of a sudden her aunt squatted down and pushed out a baby! C said she was just shocked by the whole thing, but of course none of them thought it was any big deal. She told me the story when I was in college and I wish I had asked more questions, it fascinates me all the more now that I have babies. If I remember correctly, C said when her aunt showed the baby to her uncle he just shrugged and that the next day she left the baby inside with the grandmother and went back to work in the fields! She must have gone inside every couple hours to nurse though, I didn't know enough at the time to ask those types of questions. I also remember her saying that the women all wore long heavy skirts and no underwear and that they would just pee in the fields like the men.


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## happymomma (Jun 27, 2004)

My grandmother went to the doctors house for the first I think. Then the second was born at home...circa 1938 and 1945.

I will ask her details tomorrow. She is 89 (90 in Feb) and has a better memory than I.


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## Thmom (May 4, 2004)

From what I have read of the history of childbirth ether and foreceps were very common from the 30's to the late 50's and only about 10% of babies were born at home at this time. The majority of home births were in the rural south were blacks were not allowed in hospitals and white doctors would not attend them at home. State health clinics would train black women to be midwives. There was a high incidence of fetal and maternal death, mainly because the women getting the training had little training, and conditions were less than ideal, however these "statistics" were used to support the medical establishments scare tactics of how unsafe homebirth was


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## the_lissa (Oct 30, 2004)

My one great grandma had her kids at home with an aunt who was basically a midwife. My grandma was pretty premature, but they just made sure to keep her by the oven, etc. My g-gma ended up going to the hospital because of birth related complications but my grandma stayed home. They fed her some kind of home made formula.

My other great grandma had her kids at home alone. She was mopping the floor when she had my grandpa. After she had him, she finished mopping the floor.


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## mwherbs (Oct 24, 2004)

could have been a doctor or a midwife-- my grandmother had 16 kids- some in the hospital and some at home in upstate New York, she was a nurse herself and did a lot of "home" nursing for docs

you could look through some family bibles and see if the births are listed, also look for birth certificates or look up the certificates - what town in Missouri?
family tree searches may also help- since you have names dates and the place then you can look for docs or midwives in the region


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## Joyce in the mts. (Jan 12, 2003)

I would like to write a book of such stories, actually. I will be working on the outline very soon. The title is: "And the River Still Flows", and that phrase is based on my own story of my son's birth while we lived in a very very tiny town up here near to the Hudson River where it is very very small and clean and pretty. Watching the river through the window was a big part of the ritual around my labor.

I actually was looking to write about birthstories from my region, the Adirondack Mts of NY, and in fact, I had a woman tell me about her grandparents who lived up here in the mountains, near the Canadian border. They ran a farm and so they also delivered all their babies at home, her grandfather caught the babies- why not? He helped the female animals give birth if they needed help, so of course he could help his own wife deliver their babies.

They were quite a prolific couple, and at some point during their baby-having years, birthing was becoming a centralized experience in a hospital, because "public health" folks began to come specifically to keep tabs on whether the couple was expecting (talk about violation of privacy, eh?) - I suspect so as to make sure they went to the hospital to birth, instead of sticking to their usual plan.

I found that story very interesting. Especially the part about the public health folks keeping tabs on whether she was pregnant or not, so as so "encourage" hospital birthing.

I believe there is alot of power in birth stories, as well as alot of healing. The strength described in them is really amazing.

One of the elder neighbor-ladies (her name was Hazel) in the tiny town where I birthed my youngest child (he's 20 now) at home, told me that she had her son, on the kitchen table. The local doc came to attend her.

Another neighbor-lady in that town told me that she made so much milk for her child, that she "felt like a Jersey cow"...and we both giggled over that. Her name was Lucy. Lucy's son is now probably around 70 or so.

Lucy and Hazel are long dead now...and I miss them dearly. They were lights in my life and attended to my family and me with loving care in the days after the birth. Hazel was mostly a stern and serious-looking woman, but when she saw my newborn, her face softened and I saw something in her that endeared her to me on such a deep level. Her son is probably also in his 70's or so I think.

I hope to write about these things and more.

This thread is very interesting.

Joyce in the mts.


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

Let me suggest that you look up something about the Frontier Nursing Service which operated in Kentucky up to about 1950.

The classic book by Suzanne Arms, Immaculate Deception, 1973, has a small section about it. They had an impeccable record, yet many women decided to go to the hospital at that point in history.

http://www.midwives.org/whoweare/fnshistory.shtm

My Father was born in 1914 at home on his older sister's seventh birthday; when my Aunt came home from school, she thought my Father was a doll, her birthday present.

This was in Ohio, in the city. My Gradmother paid the midwife with a loaf of bread.


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## sun-shine01 (Aug 9, 2002)

My grandmother who is 87 delivered her first baby at home in rural Oklahoma in 1938, delivered my mom at home in 1941. My grandpartens had moved to texas and lived in town so her next baby was born in the hospital but born still. Very sad story that apparently the nurses held her legs together so she could not deliver until the DOCTOR arrived. Horrid! She had her next 2 children at home and no problems.

My grandmother is the reason I choose/chose natrual childbirth and to breastfeed. At my shower when a bazillion women were telling me that I'd change my mind and beg for an epidural - my granmother leaned over and wispered to me, "I did it 5 times and you can do it too." She is so awesome!


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## Belle (Feb 6, 2005)

My great-grandma had all five of her babies at home on their farm in Sacremento in the 1920's. My grandma remembers when her youngest brother and sister(twins) were born. She wasn't there for the birth. She said that they weighed a pound a piece and wouldn't have survived if they'd been born in a hospital. My G-grandma carried them around the farm in a wicker basket on her hip with my g-grandfathers hankercheifs as diapers.

My grandma herself had all her babies in hospitals in the late 1940's early 1950's. She didn't make it to the hospital in time for any of them to have any drugs. Her babies were whisked away right away.







When the nurse brought her her second back after they were "done" with him she didn't think that he was her baby because he didn't look anything like her first son.
The nurse said "He has to be yours, he's the only baby that's been born today"
My grandma said "I guess I'll take him then"

She said she only tried feeding one baby "herself" (breastfeeding) and my uncle spit up all over her. She was so devestated that she worked so hard and her milk went to waste she never tried it again.


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## AnditheBee (Oct 3, 2003)

My grandmother gave birth to three kids at home in rural Kentucky during that time frame--my mom was the first, born in 1929. Of course, this was not a situation where she dropped her kid and went back to work--my grandmother was an extremely petite woman, 17 years old, gained way too much weight while pregnant, and was in hard labor (I'm told) for three days before finally giving birth to my 11-pound mom. Two doctors were in attendance--unheard-of at the time--and she finally managed to get my mother out while on my great-grandfather's lap. It was one of those situations that could have resulted in her death (and the baby's), or so I'm told. But the doctors who attended the births in that place & time were just "general practitioners", not OBs, so their attitude toward birth was fairly lackadaisical (the smoking-on-the-porch sort of approach, I think!). So there was no ether and no forceps--would docs have even known how to use forceps in a small rural town like that? It certainly seems like a situation that might have inspired their use...but then again, I can remember my mom telling me that doctors used to tell her to get up and walk around during labor and stuff, so maybe "old country doctors" looked at things a bit differently in earlier, less litigious times.


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## indie (Jun 16, 2003)

My greatgrandma was having babies during that time period in Mississippi. The family was white and very poor during the depression. They had a black midwife.


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## Mama2ABCD (Jun 14, 2003)

my MIL was born in her home delivered by her father "a true country doc". he traveled to mom's homes, or delivered them in his own home where his office was located. he even took chickens as payment if the family had no money. He totally believed that baby's came when they were ready. This was in TN, 2 hours east of Memphis. She was born 1940.
The bed she was born in, was my dh's bed growing up. She just gave us that suite a few years ago. My 3rd baby was conceived and born in that bed!
My FIL was born in rural W VA. His mom had 5 boys that lived, and two sets of twin girls that died as they were very premature at the time (7 mos). He was born 1938. The doc was out rabbit hunting that morning, and then arrived by buggy to deliver my FIL at my FIL's home. No roads to their house at that time.
My in-laws were very worried about my homebirth but knew to keep quiet about it. As my FIL held my baby at 2 hours old, sitting in the bed she was just born in and his wife had been born in, he suddenly exclaimed, "hey Bren(his wife), we were both homeborn and we turned out fine!".
My dad was born in a hospital in PA in 1936 with his mom knocked out on ether and he was pulled out with forceps. She was one of 16 born at home on a farm (all lived through birth, only one died before adulthood). And i don't understand how she thinks she had it better! I keep meaning to ask her to write what she remembers about her siblings birth's.


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## AmyAngel (Dec 3, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sun-shine01*
... My grandpartens had moved to texas and lived in town so her next baby was born in the hospital but born still. Very sad story that apparently the nurses held her legs together so she could not deliver until the DOCTOR arrived. Horrid! ...

I think something similar happened to my grandmother with her first pregnancy. She said the doctor "wouldn't let" her give birth yet and kept telling her she wasn't in labor. It was too early, but she WAS in labor. It turned out to be twins. Her son was stillborn, but my mom survived, and weighed just over 2 pounds. She maintains to this day that her son wouldn't have died if the Dr. had listened to her.

A couple years ago I mentioned something about homebirth to her, and she said "You know, all my mother's children were born at home (like 13 of them!) and they were all fine, that's just how everybody did it back then... giving birth at home makes sense!"


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