When I was getting to know my heroine, I met a really tough, independent woman. She has to be, to be able to do her job as town marshal. But what most of the other townspeople don’t know is that she does have a softer side… and she desperately wants a family of her own. Her best friend is pregnant and Danna ends up having to help during the delivery… and it is a really poignant moment for her because of her secret desire for a family of her own.
Also, as a mom who gave birth in a lovely hospital with several nurses and my obstetrician attending, I was still plenty scared. Imagining what it would have been like to deliver a baby back in the 1890s makes me shudder…
CHILDBIRTH
During the 1890s, most women gave birth at home. Hospitals existed in the East, but in the West there weren’t a lot of towns big enough to support one. So the best most women could expect was for a doctor to be present. More common was a midwife or even a neighbor to be present. Or sometimes it was just the husband (my husband pretended to be calm during my first delivery but I later found out it was all an act—I can’t imagine what he would have been like if he had been the only person in that room with me…)
According to Bleed, Blister and Purge (2005) a lot of women could have a normal delivery at home with very minimal help. The problems came when there were complications. Because doctors were often far away, sometimes the mother and/or child would suffer or even die because the doctor couldn’t get there in time. Luckily for my heroine, her best friend was a second-time mom and didn’t suffer any complications.
Here’s an excerpt from Marrying Miss Marshal chapter 13:
"Danna!"
"I'm here!" Rushing to her friend's side, Danna saw the face creased in pain, the sweat on Corrine's brow, the marks where she'd obviously clutched the sheets in her fists. "What can I do?"
Corrine let out a long breath, muscles easing. "Nothing yet. I think we have a bit to go, even though the pains have been coming all day."
"Should I get the doctor?"
"He's tied up at his office. The young man from the robbery took a turn for the worse. He's in surgery."
That wasn't good. The "young man" was quite possibly the only lead Danna had to find out anything about where the outlaws were going with the bank's money.
"What about your neighbor…" And why had she rushed out like that?
Corrine clasped Danna's hand as another pain came. Her lips pinched white. "She doesn't…she thinks…Brent killed…your husband." The words came out in spurts and gasps as Corrine panted through the contraction.
Danna found a clean cloth on the end of the bed—someone had prepared things at least—and dabbed at her friend's forehead. "Ssh. Ssh. It's okay."
The contraction eased and Corrine relaxed again. "I don't suppose there's any news…?"
Danna wished she had something positive to tell her friend, but there was nothing. "I'm sorry."
"And Mrs. Burnett," the preacher's wife, "is visiting her sister out of town," Corrine spoke as if the question about her husband hadn't been asked. "So I sent the neighbor boy to fetch you. Will you stay with me? Help me labor this baby?"
Tears sparkled in Corrine's eyes.
A lump of responding tears formed in Danna's throat. "You don't even have to ask," she told her dearest friend.
Copyright © 2011 by Lacy Williams. Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books.
REFERENCES:
The Modern Family Physician (1915) is available in the public domain on Googlebooks.
Volume 1 (Childbirth information starts page 370):
Bleed, Blister and Purge by Volney Steele, M.D. (2005)
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As a child, Lacy Williams wanted to become a veterinarian “when she grew up”. However, the sight of blood often made her squeamish so she gave up that dream before her teen years. As a college student, Lacy was a physical therapy major for approximately two weeks—until she found out she’d have to take a cadaver lab to complete that degree plan. As a writer, Lacy has finally found a way she can handle blood and gore—fictionally.
A wife and mom from Oklahoma, Lacy is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers and is active in her local chapter, including a mentorship program she helped to start. She writes to give her readers and mostly reads the end of the book first. You can find out more about Lacy at her website http://www.lacywilliams.net/. She is also active on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lacywilliamsbooks) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lacy_williams).
Very interesting about childbirth back then.
ReplyDeleteHi Wildflower and thanks for commenting! Although I didn't do an epidural, I can't imagine doing it without any pain meds... aaah!
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'll confess...I had my youngest son at home in my living room with a midwife present. No pain meds. It wasn't any harder than having them natural in a hospital, and it was wonderful to be able to sit in my recliner and hold my new son. There are up sides and down sides to it. I just can't imagine how scary it must have been for a young woman having her first baby with only her husband to help.
ReplyDeleteOuch, don't want to think about childbirth w/o pain meds. Thanks for the post, Lacy!
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting. As much as I love the old west I'm thankful for modern medicine.
ReplyDeleteVickie, I admire you! Just don't think I could've done it...
ReplyDeleteYes, with baby #2 only seven weeks away, I am very glad for modern meds and my very knowledgable doctor as well. :)
Thanks for commenting, gals!
I was thinking recently how many of the historical I read have where a wife died in childbirth. There are so many things we have today that we don't stop and appreciate. And yet so much back then brought people closer.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, Lacy! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI, too, am glad for modern medicine. My first baby was stuck--the doc finally had to suction him out. Sometimes I think about what would have become of us if we'd have been living in the 19th century. Kinda gives me a chill.
I look forward to reading Marrying Miss Marshall!
Would women back then have referred to it as a 'contraction'? I know the doctor might have, but would they?
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, interesting blog topic. Thanks.