152. “Had to go out to Clean and Paper.”
My husband’s wages have been as high as £5 a week and as low as 7s. in the winter, as they cannot work either in the rain, frost, or snow. So it means saving in summer to tide over winter. My hardest time of child-bearing was when my last one was born, it being the sixth child, all living. My husband had been out of work for eighteen weeks when there was such depression. I had to go out to clean and paper when I was six months pregnant, and I am suffering with varicose veins to-day as the result.
In reference to myself during pregnancy and confinements, I suffered mostly with morning sickness, swollen, aching legs, and a dragging at the left side, which has always resulted in the after-birth growing to my side, and has brought on a flooding before it could be removed, but in all my confinements I have had a qualified doctor, or I am afraid my life would have been lost.
Wages 7s. to £5; six children.