My children were both born in a small maternity hospital in the 1960s . Unless there were expected complications all the town's babies were born there. There were no doctors there permanently your GP was sent for at the last minute, as far as I was concerned ,and only arrived in time to put in the stitches. If they really had a problem there was no help on hand and they carried only the drugs needed for childbirth . I got a bad throat infection and they did not even have an asprin to offer me . I was left totally alone for quite a large part of the birth ( of course no husbands ) and all the pain relief offered was gas and air which I never got the hang of. After my DS was born I was left alone again with him in a cot over the other side of the room. He was making noises and I wondered if I should get up to look but did not dare.
My mother was well know in the town as she was a health visitor so the nurses expected me to know all about babies. I had had no experience of babies in the family and knew nothing . I found it all a bit traumatic .My mother had booked me in for a private room , £1 per day , but I would have been better in a ward with other mums. At that time you were kept in bed for a week . I asked to go home and was told nobody left in less than a week . Two years later DD was born there and I had the same private room . Fast forward 3 years and I had been fostering babies who were to be adopted getting them at 7 days old . A friend watched me changing one of the babies and remarked " my goodness you look like you have done that all your life "
As an aside my mother also did the family planning clinic and came home laughing about one of her mothers who had had far too many babies . When asked what her husband was doing about contraceptives she exclaimed " Dinna blame him I am as bad as he is " .
Heated Brush recommendation,please.