Pregnancy in the 1970s

There's a very good Wiki entry about this.

Like the toad idea

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnancy_test

Oh yes, the enema ! I had a baby in 1976, and I was also a midwife so I saw both sides of the story. Though I must admit that being a midwife didn't prepare me for the realities of childbirth at all !

No home test for me - I lived in the suburbs of a large city, but I had to see the doctor who sent away a urine sample.

We lived in a Bedfordshire village in 1977. Went to GP after a missed period. He asked for a urine sample and did a pregnancy test there and then. No test needed with second pregnancy in 1979 as I recognised the slightly out of body feeling. Did a shop bought test in 1983 as we were heading to France for a camping holiday and I needed to know whether to avoid cheese and wine. I did! Remember putting the test behind the curtain in the downstairs loo and meeting DH in there several times as we waited for the line to develop.?

By the way I was 29 and considered an elderly mother!

I was pregnant with my first child during the hot summer of 1976 though to be honest I don't remember it being that hot. (We were in the North UK) I took a urine sample to the doctor after a missed period. It was in a lemonade bottle as I had nothing else! A week or so later I had to ring to find the result and made an appointment then. The visit to the GP (who smoked like a chimney) confirmed it and I was booked in to the maternity hospital, after which I never saw him again.
Appointments with the hospital were few and far between but as I was 2 weeks late they insisted I went in to be induced so he would not be born at the weekend. I was admitted on the Wednesday night though never slept because of the noise and had waters broken at 'silly o'clock' in the morning. I went all day with nothing but painless contractions which were ideal for students to 'feel' and finally when nothing happened they said I would have to have a C-section. That immediately sent me into labour.

They gave me an injection and I remember nothing else until the final stage of delivery which I thought was the beginning of labour and wanted it all to end then!! He was born about 6pm after which I was starving and they gave me a sandwich.

The following morning we were all moved by ambulance into a maternity home which was situated in the local park. It was really lovely and I stayed there for a week. The whole thing was very surreal but I still went on to have two more children, in different circumstances though.

By the way it is his birthday today!!

DS born in 1976 at home, very quickly with no intervention. It was before the hot Summer. It rained a lot that Spring.
He was #3 and I knew I was pregnant but didn't want to announce it too early..
Walking my "big" boys to school in the morning I was sick in the gutter. The other mums guessed immediately and insisted we all go and celebrate over chocolate eclairs and coffee.
Lots of these stories sound familiar.

In 1978 I took a urine sample to the chemist and went back for the result the same day. I think it was as soon as I'd missed a period. This was London, maybe different in other areas. Good luck with the book.

My children were born in 73 and 75.
No.1 was going to be a home birth - I'd been to NCT classes and thought everything would be easy if I just relaxed!!! Was in labour for 4 days then taken in for a section. Nasty young midwife said 'You wouldn't have had these problems if you'd had your children earlier.' I was 26 at the time! Baby was 19 days late .

No.2 was born 20 days late - they used to leave you in those days if there didn't seem to be any problems. Baby was brow presentation and 9lb.4oz so was also delivered by Caesarian, but after only two days in labour that time.

OH wasn't present at either birth because both deliveries were under general anaesthetic. I can still remember the sensation of my hips being rocked to help extract no.2 whose head had become stuck.

My last child was born in 1971, by then my doctor was always certain as soon as I said I was late, so he`d give me some tablets to take, then say come back if things haven`t changed in ? days, then I was declared pregnant. I never took a pregnancy test of any kind.

I spent the day of my daughter's birth basking in glorious sunshine on the Isle of Skye! It must have been a bit cooler up there then
I came home with DC2 and was trying to find some shade mcem
It was about 96F in the back garden and carried on until the first rain in September.

I remember finding out my pregnancy test was positive over the phone in 1971. It was the best news ever - we’d been trying for 3 years. I suppose it was a urine test, but I don’t really remember. It wasn’t an easy pregnancy, with a threatened miscarriage and a lot of time spent in bed. Awful birth, too, induced and forceps. The obstetrician had told me the baby was small (no scans then) - he was 9lb 6! Worth every horrible moment. I was in hospital for a week.

Baby no. 2 was conceived without trouble, and born (easily) on his due date in 1974, weighing 7lb 13 oz. Because my first birth had been so awful, I had an epidural this time, which totally transformed the experience. I was watching The Two Ronnies when I felt the first labour pains, and went into hospital rather reluctantly, because everybody knows that babies never arrive on their due date! I went home the day after the birth.

I have pregnant twice 1969 and 1972
Both times I hd to wait till I had missed two periods before going to the doctor's.No pregnancy tests he never examined me but gave me a note to take to the nearest hospital where I was booked in.
The first time I had to have all my antenatals at the hospital.Once a month at first then at seven months once a fortnight until the last month when it was weekly
I had a ''questionable'' pelvis and had to be X rayed with the rule thing across my hips then told I was able to have a normal delivery but haha that was proved wrong
i went 3 weeks overdue was told that babies come when they are ready. Then it was decided to induce me but on that day I started labour spontaneously
Horrible long labour with baby's head not engaged.The doctor broke the waters at some point ''to hurry things along'' baby went into transverse lie then and passed meconium so I remember getting lifted onto a trolley and two nurses running as they pushed me into theatre for caesarian section.The general anaesthetic routinely used then for all sections nearly killed my DS1 and myself.I knew very little of the following two days .I first saw my son when they decided we were well enough the whole thing was a nightmare
I sort of accidentally got pregnant again two years later.The same pregnancy scenario.At first hospital visit the consultant told me I would have to have another caesarian and thrust the form to have my tubes tied in front of me saying ''We can't cut you open everytime you have a baby''
I was so scared I talked my husband into signing it and spent the rest of the pregnancy in fear.I worried about my little boy having to grow up without a mother if I did not survive the birth
Then the powers that be decided that I might be alright for vaginal delivery but to have a ''trial of labour''When I went into labour two weeks late the trial failed I did not dilate so off to theatre again and I prayed like I have never prayed before when they put me under the gas
My prayers were answered and I woke to be told I had another son and my tubes had been tied.I met my son two days later he looked like a skinned rabbit but I loved him straight away
Sorry for long rant.These people who ask for a caesarean delivery now have no idea what it used to be like.

My first pregnancy was confirmed in the first week of September 1975. I went to the local Family Planning clinic where a urine test confirmed the pregnancy there and then. I could have gone to my GP but he used a service that took 24hurs to get results! I was actually already 15 weeks pregnant and when I saw GP he thought maybe I was having twins . I did have a very blurry scan which confirmed a 16 week single pregnancy! I had been about to attend what was called a 'sub-fertility' clinic as DH and I had been trying for a pregnancy for 18 months but I had a very irregular cycle and suspected PCOS.
I had an otherwise uneventful pregnancy.. some suspected gestational diabetes but after swallowing a jug full of sugar and PLJ it was discounted. My labour started fine, then they tried to turn the baby as it was lying a back to back but it was too big. In the end, after about 10 hours labouring gas &air plus pethidine and all on my back (not allowed to walk or move to a different position) they ushered DH out which frightened us both and I was in the stirrups. Forceps and venteuse wielded and my 9lb3oz DD arrived in a rush brow first. I was swiftly whisked to surgery for a transfusion and significant internal repairs. I remained in hospital for 10 days, during which time I celebrated my 25 birthday.

My 2nd (unplanned) pregnancy was confirmed November 1977 at my GP surgery who was then able to do an immediate urine test. I still had a coil in place which had to be removed and there was a threatened miscarriage as a result. Three days in bed and the bleeding stopped and the pregnancy continued problem free. Labour was text book and in 6 hours I delivered DD2 with just gas and air and no stitches needed! 8lb13oz.

Yes jalima a hot summer!
I spent the day of my daughter's birth basking in glorious sunshine on the Isle of Skye! We came back to attend my sister's wedding!
A few weeks later we heard the news of DD's arrival and brought her home aged 6 weeks.
Many years later her birth mum and I compared how we'd spent that day.

Oh yes,BlueBelle, I forgot about the enema-----worse than the labour itself, it was awful as I thought the baby would be born down the pan.

What Katyk and Iam64 said - a missed period then a urine test at the GP surgery.

And - if you are setting this in 1976 - please note that it was an extremely hot summer, the temperature got up into the 90F, probably about 35C, and it was most uncomfortable being pregnant that year, or indeed, trying to keep a baby cool.

I had one baby in hospital and one in a maternity home in the 1970s and the maternity home was a blissful experience after the hospital.

DD1 in 1970, Miscarriage in 1971; DD2 in 1973. Urine sample to Doctor each time and phone a week later for result. First test came back negative, but after a month and still feeling sick and tired I had another which was positive. Both my babies were back to back and all my contractions were felt in my back and down the back of my legs. Both times the staff insisted I was not in Labour, had not dilated and were going to send me home. Then suddenly my waters broke, flooding the delivery room and they realised
that I was in advanced labour. With DD1 they went away to fetch Gas and Air machine and seized by one massive contraction, baby shot out, over the end of the delivery bed and bounced like a yo-yo, head down on her shiny bright yellow and black cord, which looked like an electric flex. I thought I was hallucinating. I was badly torn and got a row from the midwives for pushing before they had given me permission to do so.

Birth No. 2 was similar, except that I had experience and directed them to my back to monitor the contractions. They overdosed me on Gas and Air and pethidine, such that I was well out of it, then took the G & A away and with one mighty push DD2 burst out. I was torn from front to back passage and to add insult to injury, the registrar packed both passages with gauze to stem the bleeding, sewed me up tight like a virgin and could not then get the gauze back out.

I appreciate that no two births are the same, but found both of mine quite bizarre and nothing like I had been told to expect.

I remember using an over the counter test in 1978- result took a couple of hours.

From 1973 until 1976 I had so many pregnancy tests that I lost count!
The sample bottles to Boots and time after time a negative result. Had home test kits been available it might have been a bit less stressful!
While notching up the negative tests and attending the infertility clinic, we started the adoption process.
Dd1 duly arrived followed by the second successful adoption 2 years later! All sorted!

Dd1 was about 8 when I was at last having regular cycles and was 10 when I produced what was referred to as the miracle!

I used the over the counter Predictor mirror test in 1979. However, the doctor said he wouldn't accept the result as he thought they were unreliable. (By the way - I was!)

Thanks to all of you for your replies, particularly with your experiences of pregnancy and giving birth.

I’m 62 and never had children of my own, although I’m now step gran to 3 lovely young adults and a 13 year old boy.

I remember going on the pill when I was around 20 as I was terrified of getting pregnant. You had to see your GP to get the prescription.

A few girls I went to school with just left if they got pregnant. Most of them got married. That was 1972.

Now, thankfully, it’s so different.

The character in my book is going to get married, but it’s not going to turn out well for her. That’s part of the story line, poor girl.

Ironically, after years of trying not to get pregnant, when the time came to try for a baby, it just never happened. No IVF in those days. But, after meeting my second husband, I now have the children and grandchildren I eventually longed for.

I know there’s lots I can glean from the internet about pregnancy in the 1970s, but would really be interested to know how it actually was.

Would anyone be prepared to share their experience?

In the 60s the Hogben test involved sending urine to be injected into a frog or toad (I forget which), but by the 70s the Pregnosticon urine test took over. As others have said, it had to be sent away. I worked in the Chemical Pathology lab who sent them off.

My first was 1977 ,I was 4 months pregnant before the Consultant decided I WAS pregnant and had spent almost a month of that in hospital.The baby was early and died at 4 days old.Baby two they were all over me like a rash.As soon as I suspected I might be I had fortnightly appointments was weighed and measured and had a special diet .Not allowed to put on more than a maximum of 20 pounds over the pregnancy . I spent a couple of months in hospital on bed rest .That was no bad thing as I came out after she was born ..right on her due date in a size 10 jeans that were big on me and was fit as a flea.
The consultant was brilliant but brutal ,he would raid the lockers and take away anything he thought we shouldn't have ,biscuits sweeties etc ,we had urine tests every day to chack hormone levels I seem to remember it was oestriols they measured.She was the healthiest happiest baby I could have hoped for .
When my daughter had her first there were mums on her ward who had put on 3 or 4 stone or more ,I was truly amazed they were allowed to gain that much.

67, 69 and 73 first one was completely alone in the Far East husband not very interested after the initial ‘action’ Breech baby they tried turning she went straight back and in those days you gave natural birth to a breech baby no Caesarians, (I had to have an X-ray with a ruler between my legs to see if my pelvis was going to be big enough, they decided it was) 1969 had my mum and dad around and 73 mum came for a few days to look after the other two
Ellen I went one better than you for my middle one by now I was back in uk and I got slapped in the face for making too much noise, but my boy got back at her as he peed all over her when she lifted him
No tests just a urine check
...oh and the enema before the birth oh I remember that even today

Both my pregnancies were in the 60's. Just a missed period told me I was pregnant and at 4 months I booked in to the maternity hospital. No scans, the consultant judged by feeling the size of the baby and if it hadn't turned at the given time he'd lay two hands on the abdomen and help it into position using a firm grip--------I know because it happened to me.
Just a couple of ante-natal visits to weigh and test urine and providing all was well you waited until the strong labour pains then made a call using a phone-box and a couple of pennies.
No fuss and palava, into the labour ward after a bath and a shave and that was that. Gas and air as required. I got extra-------a slap on my behind for moaning !!