Maternity, Labor and Delivery during the Great Depression

[angelcookie]

Since many are expecting again, myself included, I was trying to research the events of the Great Depression to find out how women delivered babies. I am having difficulty locating if hospitals were functional in maternity, labor and delivery care, and possible CS were done; or if this was a time of midwifery and particularly the maternal deaths in high risk pregnancies were common.

Also, in Marxist or totalitarian regimes..... Were mothers and pregnant woman treated differently?

I can think of the extremes like Stalin starving all of his country.... I think Zimbabwe has done this as well...... What about Cuba? Did the Germans under the third reich annihilate pregnant Jewish or Catholic women, any woman not fitting their prototype and put them in their camps? 

What is Russia doing to Kiev mothers and expecting right now?

[drummerboy]

I know the birth rate took a huge dip during the Depression, but that's probably a given.

[Bernadette]

Did the Germans under the third reich annihilate pregnant Jewish or Catholic women, any woman not fitting their prototype and put them in their camps? 

As far as Jewish women were concerned (based on what I've read), yes. I mean, they were put into camps first and foremost because they were Jewish, but once they were there, their chances of survival were basically nil if they were pregnant, or even if they had very small children.

And yet, there's this: http://www.seattlecatholic.com/article_20050104.html

[Penelope]

If I remember correctly, in the U.S., hospital births started becoming common sometime around the 1920s.

[verenaerin]

If I remember correctly, in the U.S., hospital births started becoming common sometime around the 1920s.

I thought it was the 50s.

[Penelope]

If I remember correctly, in the U.S., hospital births started becoming common sometime around the 1920s.

I thought it was the 50s.

That would make sense, too, since people had more discretionary income after the Second World War and would be able to afford the hospital bill. When I made the claim about the 1920s, I was thinking about the phenomenon of Twilight Sleep, which would obviously only occur in a hospital setting and which was beginning to fall out of favor by the 1960s.

[verenaerin]

If I remember correctly, in the U.S., hospital births started becoming common sometime around the 1920s.

I thought it was the 50s.

That would make sense, too, since people had more discretionary income after the Second World War and would be able to afford the hospital bill. When I made the claim about the 1920s, I was thinking about the phenomenon of Twilight Sleep, which would obviously only occur in a hospital setting and which was beginning to fall out of favor by the 1960s.

Right, but I think this was more of a thing after WWII. This is when families moved away from each other. We lost so much as far as ob is concerned- midwives, breast feeding, etc.

[Penelope]

If I remember correctly, in the U.S., hospital births started becoming common sometime around the 1920s.

I thought it was the 50s.

That would make sense, too, since people had more discretionary income after the Second World War and would be able to afford the hospital bill. When I made the claim about the 1920s, I was thinking about the phenomenon of Twilight Sleep, which would obviously only occur in a hospital setting and which was beginning to fall out of favor by the 1960s.

Right, but I think this was more of a thing after WWII. This is when families moved away from each other. We lost so much as far as ob is concerned- midwives, breast feeding, etc.

Twilight sleep was being practiced just after the turn of the century, though, at least in Europe. Perhaps it didn't come to the U.S. until later. I've only done some cursory Googling on the topic, to be honest.

Again, my research into the matter has been limited to say the least, but I think that hospital births probably first became popular in France around the time of the First World War and then eventually spread in popularity throughout Europe and into the U.S. Based on the limited information that I've come across, France seems to be the "pioneer" in obstetrics, which, as Verena mentioned above, actually means that women lost a lot when it comes to quality obstetric care.

[verenaerin]

If I remember correctly, in the U.S., hospital births started becoming common sometime around the 1920s.

I thought it was the 50s.

That would make sense, too, since people had more discretionary income after the Second World War and would be able to afford the hospital bill. When I made the claim about the 1920s, I was thinking about the phenomenon of Twilight Sleep, which would obviously only occur in a hospital setting and which was beginning to fall out of favor by the 1960s.

Right, but I think this was more of a thing after WWII. This is when families moved away from each other. We lost so much as far as ob is concerned- midwives, breast feeding, etc.

Twilight sleep was being practiced just after the turn of the century, though, at least in Europe. Perhaps it didn't come to the U.S. until later. I've only done some cursory Googling on the topic, to be honest.

Again, my research into the matter has been limited to say the least, but I think that hospital births probably first became popular in France around the time of the First World War and then eventually spread in popularity throughout Europe and into the U.S. Based on the limited information that I've come across, France seems to be the "pioneer" in obstetrics, which, as Verena mentioned above, actually means that women lost a lot when it comes to quality obstetric care.

Ok, I was just thinking of American history. It's interesting how WWII so greatly influenced our country in terms of hospital births and circumcisions. I remember reading about the first woman the put under anesthesia to deliver her baby. She woke up 3 days later and couldn't be convinced that she had a baby. How horrible. This as at the turn of the century I think.

Not that there are not great male obs, but this is an example where men getting invovled in childbirth and trying to "fix" things, hurt many women in the long run. While there are woman that need extra help and monitoring, the majority don't- but are treated like they have a medical condition or disease. Also, I con not stand rigid rules when it comes to labor. You must dialate by this time, you only have 24 hours after your water breaks, once a C/S always a C/S, pitocin to keep a schedule, inductions, being strapped down and never able to move around, etc.

Personally, for those that can, midwives and birthing centers are the way to go. Wouldn't it be awesome to have a new order of trad nuns who were midwives and had their own birthing centers? If I was Queen...

[Penelope]

If you were Queen, could you appoint me to some official position wherein I could enact all of your childbirth mandates and initiatives? I agree with everything you just said! (And the breastmilk bank thing that you mentioned in another thread.)

[verenaerin]

If you were Queen, could you appoint me to some official position wherein I could enact all of your childbirth mandates and initiatives? I agree with everything you just said! (And the breastmilk bank thing that you mentioned in another thread.)

No problem.

I would also have mandatory naptime.

[ResRev]

My mom had my sister in 1952 under general anesthesia. She still talks about it today, how she woke up 6 hours later and couldn't believe she had a child. I on the other hand went through my last delivery unmedicated with a precipitous labor (3 cms to delivery in under 2 hours). I have a whole new appreciation now for women of the past that I never had before. I kept thinking, How did women do this so many times in the past and then become perfectly fine with doing it again? They're amazing! I couldn't do it again! Now, 2 months after my daughter was born, I think, It wasn't that bad (yes, it was, lol) I'm ready to do it again some day, God willing.

Eta, my mom was born at home during the depression. But I don't think that was any type of change in the area we lived in.

[Penelope]

If you were Queen, could you appoint me to some official position wherein I could enact all of your childbirth mandates and initiatives? I agree with everything you just said! (And the breastmilk bank thing that you mentioned in another thread.)

No problem.

I would also have mandatory naptime.

You mean for mothers, right? I would definitely get behind that movement.

[ResRev]

If you were Queen, could you appoint me to some official position wherein I could enact all of your childbirth mandates and initiatives? I agree with everything you just said! (And the breastmilk bank thing that you mentioned in another thread.)

No problem.

I would also have mandatory naptime.

You mean for mothers, right? I would definitely get behind that movement.

[verenaerin]

If you were Queen, could you appoint me to some official position wherein I could enact all of your childbirth mandates and initiatives? I agree with everything you just said! (And the breastmilk bank thing that you mentioned in another thread.)

No problem.

I would also have mandatory naptime.

You mean for mothers, right? I would definitely get behind that movement.

No, for everyone. I'll make a sleep spray for toddlers. i think if the whole world had mandatory nap time we'd have less heretics and less war.