43. Bad Experiences.
When I was married, I left my home and went to a distant town, out of reach of my mother and all my friends, and in due time I became pregnant, and as time rolled on, I began to feel the symptom which I thought was right to feel and bear.
Now, in a strange town, and no particular friends, and, shall I say, mock modest, I was almost afraid to go to a doctor for advice, in case he would think I was a coward, and did not try to bear what I thought was right. At last, I ordered the doctor and midwife, then I awaited the arrival of the baby. The time came. I was in labour thirty-six hours, and after all that suffering had to be delivered by instruments, and was ruptured too badly to have anything done to help me. I am suffering from the ill-effects to-day. This is thirty-one years ago.
I had two children after that, but all the time I was carrying them I was quite unable to get about. When the last baby was about to arrive, the last month I was not able to go upstairs, unless I got up backwards, and to come down I had to slip from step to step. Going back to the first birth, I was unable to sit down for three months. If I wanted to rest, I had to lie down.
Now, after that experience, my feeling is that if it were possible to get Maternity Centres or schools for expectant mothers, it would be a godsend to many a woman; and also to get some little help in nourishing the body, such as a small quantity of fresh milk. I hope I have enlightened you in some little way; if I have, it is worth the time I have spent in writing.
Wages 26s. to 28s.; three children.
44. “An Indomitable Will.”
My health during pregnancy was very good. I took no intoxicants, good, simple food, and through adverse circumstances worked hard in my own home.
I was married in 1887. My husband had just left the Army; he got work as a porter in a bedding warehouse. This firm failed, and he and the book-keeper joined forces and began in the bedding trade in a small way, and we were married. I went every day except Saturday to the shop to cut out and sew. My husband’s wages were £1 per week; we did our own housework at night, and I baked and ironed on Saturday morning. When my boy was born, twelve months after marriage, my husband’s wages were 25s.; of course, I could earn nothing. In another twelve months my second baby (a girl) was born. We removed to ——, where rents were cheap, and I was a stranger. I took in plain sewing and washing, and cut up my clothes for my babies. I had a good stock of clothes, I may say.
About this time we were involved in a lawsuit which was quite unnecessary, and our income was reduced to 19s. 6d. per week. I still took what work I could get, minded a child whose mother worked in the mill, etc. I had no assistance from my own family, as I was too proud to let them know. This lasted three years, when we had a change for the better. The cost of this lawsuit I mentioned was, to us, £55 12s. 4d. I then had another daughter, and three years later another girl. I could then obtain one dozen pounds of sugar for 1s. 9d., now it is 4s., and this applies to many things. When my last baby was born my housekeeping money was £2 10s.