MRS H: Oh ya.

KAREN: Did people give you gifts or different things?

MRS H: Ya, they did. Little dresses and things like that. Little shirts, you know, underneath shirts.

KAREN: Oh ya. Right. What about food for the family when you were sort of lying in bed?

MRS H: No. Although someone brought oranges and apples, fruit, for me, that was about what I can remember.

KAREN: But it wasn’t a customary thing to bring a lot of food?

MRS H: No.

KAREN: Had you heard about hospital births? Or did you hear from friends at the time having babies in the hospital?

MRS H: Ya, well some of my granddaughters, they had theirs in the hospitals.

KAREN: Did they tell you what the experience was like? Do you talk about that? 

MRS H: No. No, I never asked them.

KAREN: Ya? You should! You should see how it differs. See how it differs.

MRS H: I have nineteen grandchildren, and two of them died, and great-grandchildren. I have two great-great-grandchildren.

KAREN: Do you?

MRS H: Ya!

We take a long break here to look at photos of her family, and to talk about one of her sons, who had died suddenly at the age of fifty-four.

KAREN: Anyway, I’d better… I’m looking at the time there, I’d better let you go in a minute. You had all good birth experiences, no troubles, no problems?

MRS H: No, no.

KAREN: Over all your birth experiences, this is my very clever question… see how you feel (about answering it). Are there any that leave you with an especially good feeling? Anything that was particularly memorable about any of the births, anything maybe that was particularly funny? Anything strange, or…?

MRS H: No, there was nothing strange. Always glad it was over with. (Laughs)

KAREN: Ya! (Laughs) Any that leave you with any bad feelings…? But I guess not. Any that leave you with any bad feelings in any way?

MRS H: No.

KAREN: Good for you. This is my final question, this is a hard one. Do you think you’ve gained any special wisdom, any special insights about life, about motherhood, from your birth experiences?

MRS H: Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think I’d do anything different, if I had to do it over again.

KAREN: Good, well that’s a good thing to hear. That’s a good thing to feel, no? Okay, I’ve got to the end of my page, and it’s almost your dinner time so I’m going to leave you. Let you get ready. 

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