MRS D: Yeah, the fourth baby was a boy too and I remember we had a girl with us then already. I think I kind of had problems with fainting spells. So I remember we had a girl and when it was on Easter morning and I said, “We are going to have to get the midwife again.” So he took, this was in April, he took the children and the girl, she was a niece of ours and very likely took her home and the children went with her. And then he must have brought his mother. Oh yes! He brought his mother then he dropped her off to look after me while he went to get the midwife.

I said to my mother-in-law, I said, “it just feels as though the baby is coming, I won’t be able to hold it.”

And she says, “Oh no, oh no.” She was so scared, you know. She got the bed ready for me and I got into bed and I said, “I can’t help it, I can’t hold it!”

Oh, she was so terribly worried. I felt sorry for her, but what can you do when it’s there and the baby did come and she looked after it, she cut the cord.

MARYANNE: That must have been quite an experience for her.

MRS D: Yeah, she probably had helped before, but not by herself. She was so afraid. And then when my husband came with the midwife then she went out and she walked proud and she says, “Oh, you’ve got a big boy!” And he was the biggest one that I’ve had, he was over nine pounds.

MARYANNE: Did she prepare things like boiled water, the scissors?

MRS D: Oh, she must have done that yeah.

MARYANNE: So when the baby came out she sort of caught the baby then?

MRS D: Uh huh, uh huh.

At this point, the interview is interrupted by another of our interview subjects, Mrs. S.E, whom we’d already interviewed. She stayed for a while to listen.

MARYANNE: So did the midwife come much later?

MRS D: Well, no, shortly after the baby was born.

MARYANNE: And did she stay for a little while?

MRS D: Oh yes. The midwife probably took the afterbirth and she also cleaned up the baby. She took over then, but I couldn’t hold! I had to let go and it came! I couldn’t hold it before the midwife was there! Mrs. S. E. is laughing in the background.

MARYANNE: My fourth baby was in the hospital and I said, “I can’t!” And the nurse said,”Do you want to wait for the doctor?” And I said, “I can’t wait.” You know that feeling when the baby is coming and especially when it’s your later babies? I know my first babies you had to push a little harder to get them out, but the fourth ones they come pretty quickly. So then was it the same midwife, Mrs. Sawatzky?

MRS D: Mm huh.

MARYANNE: So then, do you remember, did you pay the midwife?

MRS D: I just can’t.

MARYANNE: Okay, we just wanted to know what was done in those days.

MRS D: I don’t remember that and we were so poor I don’t know how we could have.

MARYANNE: So it was kind of a community thing that she would do.

MRS D: Yeah.

Maryanne asks about the fifth baby. She had forgotten the boy-girl sequence, and thought the fifth baby was a boy.

MRS D: No, the fifth baby was a girl.

MARYANNE: Okay so you were back in the hospital again?

MRS D: No, I wasn’t in the hospital. I was at my mother’s, and waiting there for it to come. Why I didn’t go to the hospital, I don’t know because this was in August. The roads would have been better then, but I guess probably we had to pay for having it in the hospital.

MARYANNE: And that would have been too expensive for you?

MRS D: Yeah, my mother probably offered that I could stay there and so that was quite something too. I had been waiting for about a week already and then all of sudden I began to have pains and thinking, this is it. So I told mother, because everything had to be done by horses you know, to get help. So we didn’t wait too long but the pains felt as though they were the real ones.

Mrs D had made arrangements that when labour started her youngest sister’s husband would drive his horse and buggy into town to call the doctor. He left in the early hours of the morning, but when the doctor arrived at 3:00 am Mrs D’s pains had stopped.

MRS D: Then I felt so mad, you know. All this trouble for nothing. But he said, “That’s okay, very likely you’ll be calling me in a couple of weeks.”

Well, it was probably a week because somebody gave me advice to take castor oil and boy… Phewf … (Have you ever taken castor oil? Phewf indeed.) and then go for a walk. So you know I did take a big spoonful of that castor oil and we went for a walk, a nice long walk.

That night I had pains again and we did the same thing and we had to go and tell my brother-in-law to call the doctor and the doctor came with a nurse. And, it seems to me, yes, when the doctor came then the baby was already born. My mother had to take care of that but the afterbirth hadn’t come yet so she told the doctor that the afterbirth, he better do that. So he did that and then they left and my mother took care of the baby.

MARYANNE: So your mother was there when the baby was coming, can you remember how she was feeling about that when you were saying, “The baby is coming.”

MRS D: Well, my mother and my older sister were both there, but I couldn’t hold it either so….

MARYANNE: Were they uncomfortable about that?

MRS D: Ah, I didn’t notice, not like my mother-in-law.

MARYANNE: And they cut the cord and everything as well?

MRS D: Yeah.

MARYANNE: So where were the other children at that time?

MRS D: Well, I think we had a girl staying at home.

MARYANNE: Back at home.

MRS D: Yeah, mm huh.

MARYANNE: What year, I think forgot to ask you, what years? The first baby was born in ’37.

MRS D: ’37 and the girl, second one was ’39 in December, and then second boy was in May ’41 and the other boy was in April of ’43 and this girl that we were just talking about was in ’45 and then the next one was the boy, he was born in March. March 23. Tomorrow, that would be. And that was when I had the mumps and he only lived one week. We had to take him to the hospital, he wasn’t well.

By sad coincidence, we interviewed Mrs D the day before the lost baby’s birthday.

MARYANNE: Was he born at home?

MRS D: Yes, he was born at home.

MARYANNE: In your own home?

MRS D: Yes, he was born in our own home. That time I had a different, you know, a neighbour lady that had been a midwife many times.

MARYANNE: Do you remember what her name was?

MRS D: (Long pause) Hmm. I remembered it before. She was English. Well, we better not waste time.

MARYANNE: If you think of it you can phone me some time, I have a card, but you may have trouble reading it. But I’ll leave you my card, you could ask Mrs. E to call.

MRS D: Maybe I’ll remember it before you leave. Then my sister-in-law, she was there, and my husband I remember. But first of all I guess he had to take the children, I think he must have taken them to my sister-in-law.

MARYANNE: Had your house changed by then, had you made any additions?

MRS D: We had partitioned off two bedrooms, very small bedrooms. One was for the boys and one was for the girls.

MARYANNE: So where would your bed have been?

MRS D: It was in the living room.

MARYANNE: In the living room?

MRS D: Yeah.

MARYANNE: And is that where the baby would have been born?

MRS D: That’s where the baby was born, but the children weren’t around. But I remember he took the children to my sister-in-law’s place, I think her husband must have looked after them and then she came along and then my husband went to get …

There is a long pause here as she remembers.

MRS D: Well, anyway, this elderly lady and I remember my husband was there. But I had really prepared everything quite well for this child to be born at home.

MARYANNE: When did you get the mumps, was it later in the pregnancy?

MRS D: Well, my children were having the mumps at the time. Two were over them and two were still having them. I don’t know whether I got them after the baby was born or whether I had them already, but I remember having the mumps and I was in bed. So we had a little funeral when the baby died and my brother-in-law made a little coffin and I couldn’t go to the funeral, but the girl that was staying with us at that time, her mother stayed with me while the rest of them went to the church.

MARYANNE: That must have been sad for you.

MRS D: Yeah, it was, but now I’m glad it could go at that time you know. The world is in such turmoil. So many temptations for the young people. I’m glad that it’s gone to heaven.

MARYANNE: So that was your sixth child?

MRS D: Yeah and then I had another girl after that.

MARYANNE: And where was that?

MRS D: She was born in the hospital. She was born in August too, in ’49.

Maryanne didn’t transcribe this portion of the interview because it was about the hospital birth.

MARYANNE: During those pregnancies, all those pregnancies, did you go to see the doctor very often or just towards the end, or just at the end?

MRS D: Well, I guess. Probably I did go in-between time but, you know, I was okay.

MARYANNE: You basically felt pretty healthy during your pregnancies?

MRS D: Well, I was run down. You know, I had them too close together. One born in ’37 and then ’39 and ’41, ’43, ’45, and ’47 the boy that passed away, and then ’49.

MARYANNE: Every two years.

MRS D: I should have had something but I just let it go. And then I finally got so there were some days I’d feel really good and I’d clean the walls or something and the next day I’d be down again and good for nothing. The children often said, “you look pale,” or “you look yellow,” and that I should go and see a doctor. I was not one to go and see the doctor very quick. But I remember it got so that in the middle of winter I had to carry in snow, lots of snow to thaw, enough for doing the laundry. And then once I had the laundry done it happened to fill up again. Anyway, we had a few steps to go up into the house. It got so that going up those few steps I was just out, I could hardly make it. Sometimes I really felt faint and I did faint several times and so my husband said, “You better go and see the doctor.” So this one time, I think it was in January or February when he was going to take me in and then our truck didn’t work, or vehicle, whatever it was, he couldn’t get it started. So then the next day he went to the neighbours and got them to take me. And that day I felt well! I said, “what am I going to tell the doctor? I feel good.” But when the doctor came in he says, “Well, what brings you here?” I said, “Well, the family thinks I should come and get a check up and see you.” And he says, “I guess you were a stubborn as a mule.” I said, “yes.”

MARYANNE: Were you pregnant then?

MRS D: No, but I was so run down and so he took my blood count and it was so low that he put me into the hospital. I didn’t even come home.

MARYANNE: Was this after your seventh baby.

MRS D: Yes, yes.

MARYANNE: You were anemic, they call that anemic.

MRS D: Yeah, very anemic. I had to have blood transfusions, and I was in hospital quite a while. Then I had to go on iron pills, but after I got over that I’ve been very well! But, you know, during those times when I had the babies so close together I wasn’t up to par before I had the next one.

MARYANNE: Can you tell me, you had doctors and you had midwives, how do you feel, was there any difference between the two? Do you feel some births were better than others or worse than others or anything like that?

MRS D: I don’t think I’ve had a very hard births at all.

MARYANNE: So you were treated quite well by everybody that would be there with you?

MRS D: Yeah, I had good confidence in them, all of them.

MARYANNE: Did you have something else to say?

MRS D: The one I can remember most was the last one, you know, or the boy that died.

MARYANNE: I know you had a doctor, then you had a midwife and then a doctor again. What would have made you call the doctor, do you remember the circumstances that would change your choice or your decisions?

MRS D: I don’t know why that has been. It wasn’t that we had planned it–“The boys should all be born at home.” All the boys were born at home.

MARYANNE: Just certain circumstances.

MRS D: Yeah, it just happened that way.

MARYANNE: Maybe it depended on who was available. You know, maybe that was it, maybe the midwife wasn’t available any longer. So the last baby would have been born at Carrot River, had they built the hospital by then?

MRS D: Yeah, the last one, yes, yes. She was born in the hospital. Even my second one, girl, she was born in the hospital.

MARYANNE: Oh yes, that was in Carrot River, they had built the hospital. So some of the decisions to stay at home was because of money?

MRS D: I’m sure, I’m sure.

MARYANNE: “It was too expensive.” We’ve heard that many times that it was very expensive and they knew that community people could look after them, they had a good reputation.

MRS D: Mm huh.

MARYANNE: When you look back on those experiences was having the baby at home and having the baby in the hospital quite different?

MRS D: Well, then I didn’t have any responsibility when I was in the hospital. You didn’t see what all needed to be done.

This becomes a recurring theme. It took a while for us to notice but, very often, when we ask what they liked about having their baby in the hospital, they tell us they enjoyed the break from the workload at home.

MARYANNE: If you could have changed anything would you have done anything differently?

MRS D: I don’t think so.

MARYANNE: You were quite happy with how things went along?

This is obviously a leading question. We were aware we were doing it, and tried to stop ourselves. But as the stories piled up, we noticed that, despite our mistakes, “our ladies” never once allowed themselves to be led. I’ll explain my theories on why this was the case in a separate section of this site.

MRS D: Yeah, and you know it was at the time when this baby was born in March, you know? They used to not have the snowblowers, they just pushed them and there were way high snowbanks on both sides of the road. Then if you had a storm, you know, you could imagine what the road would be like. And they didn’t always get it opened up and it would be bumpy and terrible.

And when they took the baby in, you know, we had a cab. And you had to take it in with horses on that bumpy road and it took them a few hours to get into town.

MARYANNE: Did you ever see that baby again afterwards?

MRS D: Well, they brought it back and it was dead.

MARYANNE: So they brought the baby to the home to prepare and…

MRS D: Yeah, we didn’t have an undertaker.

MARYANNE: So how did the children react to that, the other children?

MRS D: Oh, I think they were sorry, too, that the baby didn’t live, but…

MARYANNE: These things happen. I’ve lost a baby too so I know what that’s like. Like you say too, if it’s a child that’s very unhealthy. It can be a real hardship sometimes.

MRS D: I remember this sister-in-law that was with me, when that baby was born, she had a baby girl, it was in between some of mine. Anyway it was such a beautiful, healthy little girl. She was 11 months and then she got diarrhea and she got it so bad that she had to be in the hospital. And she was in the hospital for a whole month and then she was just skin and bones. She couldn’t eat or keep anything down. After that, when my baby had to go to the hospital and it couldn’t swallow or whatever it was, I just prayed, “Lord, take the baby before…” You know? So it doesn’t have to starve and suffer as long as hers.

MARYANNE: Did her baby eventually die?

MRS D: Yes, it did.

Here, Maryanne begins wrapping up, but Mrs D volunteers a little more.

MRS D: One thing I was going to say, we lived in that house with all the six children.

MARYANNE: Is that right?

MRS D: That lean-to that we had that used to be the veranda, it was about six or eight feet wide and then as long as the house was wide, you know. And we used it as a kitchen and then they had insulated it and then it was warm.

MARYANNE: So that was a cozy family home.

MRS D: Oh boy, when I think back, you know we often had company and we put up with them. We’d put quilts on the floor and or we’d sleep on the floor and let them sleep in our bed. And of course we were so poor and my husband at that time already, he was, he had a heart condition. So he couldn’t really do hard work anymore, it made it very tough.

MARYANNE: When you look back on those years, were they happy memories?

MRS D: Well, everybody was poor it seemed. Maybe some didn’t have quite as hard a time as we did, but everybody seemed to be in the same boat.

MARYANNE: Would you happen to have any pictures at all of your babies or of you being on the farm? That’s another thing that we would like to have some pictures in our book.

MRS D: Yeah, somebody asked if we had a picture of our log house and I don’t have a good picture of our log house.

MARYANNE: No other pictures that you can think of, of your babies?

MRS D: We didn’t used to take… Yes, I would have some, but you’d have to really try and look for them. Of course, that meant she would really have to try and look for them. She was 82. We didn’t ask her to try.

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