MRS B.: …1933, I think. And with this terrible snow, eh? My husband went to get the nurse, it was a friend of ours, with the neighbours, you know, she didn’t live too far, but he had to go with the team and sleigh. And the nurse told him where to go, and they got stuck in the snow drift. So they were lucky to get there because you know, the doctor was there and everything, before they came.

KAREN: Really? So you had your first baby at home?

MRS B.: At my husband’s home, ya.

KAREN: Oh, at your husband’s home. And how long had you been in labor before? Did your husband go for the doctor?

MRS B.: No. He came out on his own. Dr. Monroe, he was. And anyway, he came out on his own, he was there. Instrument baby.

KAREN: Instrument baby.

MRS B.: Ya.

KAREN: Tell me about that. How did that happen?

MRS B.: Well, suddenly he gave me ether, eh? But it was an instrument baby, but he wasn’t so big, it was seven and a half. The youngest boy who’s ten years younger, he was born in Winnipeg at the Grace Hospital, and he’s the only one in the hospital. And that was far worse than having the babies at home. There were three babies wanting to be born at the same time, and they prepped me, and I had blisters from being alone on the bed, hanging on to the top of the bed, because the doctor says that when you… I don’t say it’s not right, but my doctor’s always told me that having five years between each one of mine was like having a first baby, eh? And my last baby weighed nine pounds. So… But that’s what happened. I just… I was left alone and I had blisters on my hands from hanging on the… I was just… I was afraid he would be born before they came, eh?

KAREN: That happened to my mother, they left her alone. She did that for her first baby, and she was terrified, and she hung on to the top of the bed, and she screamed, like she was all alone. And they had her feet tied down, too, so she couldn’t move. They had her feet in the stirrup things. She was strapped in.

MRS B.: Well, you know, I didn’t have too much trouble after the doctor came, but, I don’t know. I guess it would have happened, but they left me alone, you know. If the nurse had been there, just.. you know.. just to watch me. I.. I was afraid I’d have the baby, you know, and nobody there, eh? It’s a terrible, stupid…

KAREN: Ya. No, I agree, completely. So…

MRS B.: The doctor came when my first baby was born, he only weighed seven and a half.

KAREN: So you said that the doctor came on his own, had you telephoned him? How did he come? How did he know to come?

MRS B.: Oh, I forget how that had… I really forget how he came out.

KAREN: Yes, I understand. When you were in labor, were you in labor in your own home and then you moved to your husband’s home?

MRS B.: No, I was there for a little while.

KAREN: Was that very far away from your own home?

MRS B.: No.

KAREN: About how far?

MRS B.: Oh, about three miles.

KAREN: So, when you went into labor who was there with you the first time?

MRS B.: Just the doctor.

KAREN: No, as you… before the doctor arrived, was your mother?

MRS B.: My mother-in-law was there.

KAREN: Do you remember any of the sort of routines that… did she have any routines?