What was childbirth like in the 1960s/70s?

March 27, 2016 7:55 AM

My grandmother gave birth to 4 children in NJ in the 60s and 70s. All 4 births were in a hospital with whatever recommendations her doctor gave her. I'm curious about what she experienced, and what childbirth was generally like in the US at that time.

My grandmother says that when she gave birth to both of her sons (1965 & 1966), she was 100% knocked out with no memory of giving birth at all, and her husband was not allowed in the room at any point while she labored. She "woke up" and they were handing her the baby. I am familiar with scopolamine-assisted "twilight sleep" births, though I had thought they were out of style by the 1960s. Is it likely this is what she experienced? If not, what medications is it most likely that she received and what was probably going on?

She also says that in the 1970s, when she had her daughters, she can remember giving birth to them "a little" and that her husband was allowed in the room by then. She thinks she received some kind of gas. Any guesses as to what she experienced then?

Do these birth experiences sound typical for the 60s & 70s? What was giving birth like in these decades, particularly with regard to pain management, routine procedures that maybe are no longer routine, length of hospital stays, etc.? I'm very curious!

posted by srrh to Health & Fitness (35 answers total)

I was born in the early 70s in Florida. My mom under a twilight sedation as well when I was born. My dad was nowhere near the birthing suite. He was in the waiting room, with a handful of cigars. So stereotypical!
posted by heathrowga at 7:59 AM on March 27, 2016

Mine was the same as Heathrowga in 1971 in CA. Twilight sedation (my mom sort of remembered giving birth to me, but not really). Dad was watching football in the waiting room.
posted by cecic at 8:03 AM on March 27, 2016

1967, twilight sleep for sure.
1968, when my husband was born, his mother stayed in the hospital for a non eventful birth for a week.
posted by anastasiav at 8:06 AM on March 27, 2016

Twilight sedation was common in some areas into the 1980s, horrifyingly enough. It's very likely, if your grandmother has no memory of the birth, that it was under scopolamine and morphine. Though mothering.com can kind of be a garbage fire, you can read some second-hand accounts of twilight births through the 70s on this thread.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:10 AM on March 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

Oh, and in the 70s it's possible she received nitrous oxide during birth, which mostly fell out of favor for epidurals in the 1980s (but is still used in the UK and other places).
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:13 AM on March 27, 2016

My mom had 3 births (1966, 1967, 1972) 2 in naval hospitals and one civiian and in different states. All 3 she had scopolamine and my father was in the waiting room. She doesn't remember any of the births, just waking up and being told what the sex of the baby was (said babies being in the nursery and not in the room with her).
posted by hollygoheavy at 8:18 AM on March 27, 2016

I was born in 1975 and my mom had hoped to follow the Lamaze method and my dad was to be in the room.... So I'm guessing she didn't plan on any sort of pain medication. She ended up with an emergency c-section so that birth plan went out the window (as they so often do). She did remember the c-section, so she was conscious for that.
posted by amro at 8:20 AM on March 27, 2016

If you want to learn more about what Twilight Sleep looked like, this video is great. Deep episiotomy and forceps were very common and the babies were often floppy after birth from the drugs. In terms of postpartum practices, babies would have been sent the the nursery and put on a feeding schedule (breastfed and formula fed). However, your grandmother was giving birth during the rise of Dr. Spock, LLL, and the natural birth movement so it was a period of fairly rapid change--from father's kept out of the room to lamaze and active birth partnering. In the 1960s DES was still being given to some mothers to dry their milk, while many women were choosing to breastfeed in the 70s. So it's possible your grandmother's births individually, and her postpartum care, looked very different indeed.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:24 AM on March 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

She did remember the c-section, so she was conscious for that. Dear god!

I was born in 1965 and the doctor was at breakfast when I was being coming out, so they crossed my mothers legs so he would have time to come back as he would only get paid for the birth if he was there.

That's all I know of my delivery.
posted by Vaike at 8:41 AM on March 27, 2016 [4 favorites]

I was born in 1971. My mom was given twilight sleep but she had a reaction (or they gave her too much) and she didn't wake up till 13 hours later. She was the last one to see me. They had to use two sets of forceps to get me out and my newborn pictures are horrible!! I was so beaten and bruised up. My 24 year old father was in the waiting room, chewing rubber bands because he was so nervous and couldn't find gum, and we he saw me, he actually recoiled in horror because I looked so bad. My grandma had to pull him off the ceiling and convince him that I was ok, it was from the forceps.
posted by pearlybob at 8:41 AM on March 27, 2016

My mom's friends had babies in the 1970s; their stories to her (of not remembering anything, of the baby being totally drugged out, etc.) are the reason she went full "gentle birth" with me in 1980 - no drugs, doctor pretty much lets the midwife do it all, etc.

By 1986, enough of her friends had done hospital births without amnesia (etc.) that she was willing to do a modern birth at the hospital for my sister, though she still insisted they refrain from doing anything that would make the baby act weird or prevent her from nursing immediately (she was worried about bonding.) I think she did the full modern package in 1989 for #3, as it was now pretty clear the doctors weren't going to do anything freaky.

Anyway, she was forming her initial opinions towards the end of high school and in her early twenties; basically 1969 to 1976. So I'd expect those particular zombie-birth horror stories to have come from that time period. She seemed to believe that births prior to the 1950s were much easier and healthier in the long run, and used to complain that when I was born it was practically illegal to do a home birth (or, at least, you couldn't get any kind of help for it.)

The gentle birth thing was HUGE when I was a little kid, but the place I was born in was turned into a parking lot ten years later. All my siblings can still visit the hospitals they were born in, hmph.
posted by SMPA at 8:45 AM on March 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

My brother and I were both born in the '70s at army hospitals within 25 miles of each other, though he was born in 1971 and I came along four years later. Both births used a saddle block for pain.

When my brother was born, my father wasn't allowed to be in the room. The hospital was quite crowded and for part of the labor, my mother's bed was in the hallway. The bed had rails, and she needed help with them so she could go to the restroom -- she called out to nurses but no one came, so she tried to climb over them and the nurses scolded her. The doctor was moonlighting at another hospital and they had to wait for him to arrive -- he was late, and frazzled, and at one point he left the room in frustration with her. (It was her first pregnancy and she was a petite woman: She was 5'2, and the baby was nearly 10 pounds. There was some damage.) After the birth, my mom stayed in a large ward room with perhaps nine other women and their babies. It was impossible to sleep in that room. The nurses made the new mothers make their own beds because it was thought that it would help speed their recovery.

My birth four years later was completely different. My father was allowed into the room and held mom's hand the entire time, watching the monitors and telling her when the next contraction would be. She had a kind and helpful doctor who answered all her questions and was unrushed, even though I took hours to arrive. (The doctor was African American; my parents are white.) After the birth, my mother was placed in a private room for a few days. I was brought to her during the day but at other times was in the infant room with all the other babies so she could rest. She still speaks fondly of the doctor and the birth experience there.
posted by mochapickle at 9:10 AM on March 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

I was born in '75 and was one of the first Lamaze births at that city teaching hospital. My dad was in the room, as were several medical students, apparently, because it was still unusual.
posted by percolatrix at 9:21 AM on March 27, 2016

I was born in 1965 and my mom was knocked out and I was removed with forceps. Interestingly she was big into La Leche League and breast fed me until I weaned myself, so my birth and infancy really kind of straddles the two eras.
posted by HotToddy at 9:39 AM on March 27, 2016

In 1971, my mom and dad had to shop around for hospitals in the Kansas City area that would allow my dad to be in the delivery room-- they found just one. She wanted a natural, unmedicated birth but was coerced out of it. By 1974, in Cincinnati, she was able to have a natural, unmedicated birth in a hospital with my dad there, no problem. Not sure how much the difference is accounted for by regional differences and how much by evolving birthing practices.
posted by kittydelsol at 9:41 AM on March 27, 2016

I was born in 1967 in the UK. The government provided a midwife to my parents for the last five months of her pregnancy, and she came over every day of the week to teach my parents how to handle a newborn, coach her through the changes in her body, make sure she was eating well, etc. I was born at home, delivered by the midwife while the state-sent doctor stood on the balcony smoking. He came in once I was born, signed the birth certificate, and left. My father caught the baby.

In 1970 my mother was pregnant with my sister in Kentucky. She asked about having a home birth, and was told that it was illegal and that they'd take her children if she tried. When they went to the hospital, they banned my father from the OR (not a birthing room, a full-on OR), and tried to pump my mother full of drugs and strap her down. She refused everything, and they spoke to her in an insulting, paternalistic way, telling her, "You don't understand, ma'am. Having a baby is painful." She said basically, yeah, been there, done that, and you Male Doctor, have not. She was required to sign papers saying that she wouldn't sue them if it hurt. She had my sister in a quasi-lamaze method, strapped to the table, unable to sit up, and with no one to coach her breathing. It took much longer and was more painful, and my father wasn't there for it.

I think it was probably better for everyone the first way, but you know, I was only an infant so maybe I'm projecting.
posted by Capri at 9:50 AM on March 27, 2016 [12 favorites]

PhoBWanKenobi, is there no part 3 to that video? I can't find it. Watched the first two and it is fascinating!
posted by HotToddy at 9:57 AM on March 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I was born in 1968 in a hospital the northeast. My mom went for a no drugs birth and remembers talking to her neighbor about it (who had kids) who was like "Who wants to be awake for that?" and had gotten twilight sleep for her daughter who was born in 1965 and thought my mom was slightly weird. My dad was out in the waiting room though he could have come in if he'd wanted to (bone of contention with my parents forever). I had a forceps indentation on my forehead for a decent amount of time afterwards. You can sort of see it over my eye in this photo.
posted by jessamyn at 9:58 AM on March 27, 2016

Mid 70's. Northern Florida. My parents went to a hospital an hour away so my dad could be in the room. They used forceps.
posted by JPD at 10:26 AM on March 27, 2016

1969, Boston. I was induced, because the doctor felt I'd been cooking long enough. So my mother got to pick my birthday, her parents' wedding anniversary. I was born at the "Women's Lying-In Center," which is the Women's in the Brigham and Women's hospital system here.
posted by Melismata at 10:44 AM on March 27, 2016

My mother gave birth twice, in 1965 and 1967, in a hospital in eastern Pennsylvania. She remembers having an episiotomy (an incision between the vagina and the anus) as well as having her pubic hair shaved and undergoing an enema. (All of the procedures were pre-labor.)

But as HotToddy notes, the mid to late '60s was something of a transitional era vis a vis childbirth and infancy practices. Like HotToddy's mother, mine was an advocate of breastfeeding, having learned in nursing school of its benefits to a newborn's immune system. I don't know exactly how long Mom breastfed me and my sister, or exactly why she stopped. I do know that she would have liked to have breastfed us longer, and that she wishes that nursing bras and nursing-friendly tops had been around when she was a new mother.
posted by virago at 11:38 AM on March 27, 2016

Vaike, I was conscious for my c-section, too. Most people are nowadays, but I don't know how common that was in 1975.

I forgot to mention that I was three weeks late, which would never be permitted to happen these days (at least in the US).
posted by amro at 11:42 AM on March 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

HotToddy, not that I know of; I've looked, too. Similar accounts can be found in the movie Birth Story and in Peggy Vincent's book Baby Catcher, which is the memoir of another obstetrics-nurse-turned-midwife, which might be interesting to OP for how they both chronicle changes in birth trends.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 12:12 PM on March 27, 2016

I was born in 1961 in NYC - my mother was awake and had a spinal. My younger brother came in a hurry so mom had no drugs. My father was in the residents' lounge hanging with a good friend who was a resident in that hospital. Did not get him into the labor room but did give him a cot to nap on. My mother smoked through her pregnancies and I was tiny - barely 5 lbs - which was the limit for being considered full term and able to not be in a premie nursery.

My MIL had her children in the 40s and 50s and was knocked out totally for at least one of the births and unmedicated for the last. Shaving and enemas were a matter of course in those days. I don't remember what I've been told about length of hospital stay and both Mom and MIL are no longer with us to ask. Family lore does tell that when my husband was born in June it was very hot and my FIL left the hospital to buy an electric fan for her because there was no A/C.
posted by leslies at 2:13 PM on March 27, 2016

Fascinating thread - now I have to call my mum tomorrow and question her thoroughly.

Capri's account of a UK birth makes me want to go back and ask more about one of my sisters' birth, which was in the UK, and which my mother has complained about forever. Maybe she was used to twilight sleep and shocked to be forced to be awake. I remember the NHS post-birth care was amazing - there was a child nurse who visited us at home all the time, and talked with us older siblings (otherwise it would obviously have gone over my head).

I know I was taken by forceps because my skull is crazy extended on the early photos and that was was they explained me about it. No dad or anyone else - when my half-sister was born, in 1970, my other sister and I weren't even allowed inside the building to say hello, we stood outside in the snow and waved at her through the window. I showed her my doll.

PhoBWanKenobi's link is just amazing! I too would love to see part III, if it exists.
posted by mumimor at 2:43 PM on March 27, 2016

As far as what childbirth was like in general in the U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s the recent documentary No Más Bebés (No More Babies) about Mexican immigrant mothers who were sterilized while giving birth at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center during the late 60s and 70s and the consequent unsuccessful Madrigal v. Quilligan class-action lawsuit, contains a variety of relevant details.
posted by XMLicious at 3:19 PM on March 27, 2016

Best answer: Well, you asked, so here it goes. I am mom of four sons, born in 1968, 70, 73, and 1980. My first childbirth experience was a horrible nightmare, made worse by the fact that I was an unwed mother, but the terrible obstetrical care I got as a patient at an inner city clinic in a Catholic hospital was standard procedure there for all moms, married or not.

Of course my child's father was not with me, he was out with his new girlfriend. I was given scopalomine (sp?) , twilight sleep, which I later found I was allergic to and had a bad reaction, knocked out for the delivery, and my son was delivered with forceps and looked pretty squashed. I had an epiesiotomy from here to beyond. I did not come around out the of the anesthetic for many hours, lots of stitches, had been shaved before delivery, and was miserable. I ended up with post partum depression and lost my child to adoption after a stay in foster care, but that is another sad story.

My next two kids, born in a nice suburban hospital with dad in attendance, were like night and day to the first awful experience. The only thing I was given with my son born in 1970 was a little nitrous oxide at the end, which was really not needed. I watched them stitch me up, then when they let my husband in made him go find me some lunch as I was starving.

Finally took Lamaze classes with my next son, had natural childbirth that went fine except my husband missed the actual birth by seconds because he was suiting up for the delivery room. No drugs, no more pain than with the drugged delivery, no stitches, and a quick recovery. Back in those days, they kept mom and baby in the hospital for 5 days. My mother had told me that when I was born, in the 1940s, they kept you for over a week! When my third son was born did not yet have rooming in so brought the babies in every few hours to feed. The hospital staff were kind and supportive.

Last child was born in 1980, out of your time frame but it was altogether pleasant, in a bright sunny birthing room where I could walk around until the contractions got too strong, then the end of the bed came away and the baby was delivered and handed to me. My husband was there the whole time and took pictures of our new son. I had rooming in so my baby was with me the whole time I was in the hospital. I breastfed the three sons I raised, unusual in those days, and was a member of La Leche League, but I had no problems with nursing.
posted by mermayd at 3:25 PM on March 27, 2016 [16 favorites]

I was born in 1974 in Toronto via unplanned c-section. Mom was put under general and they kept her in the hospital for like 10 days after (that was standard for c-sections). She said she was so bored most of the time because I was kept in the nursery and they'd just bring me to her every now and then, then take me away again. They also told her not to bother to try breast feeding, it sucks and women don't like it, so here's a shot to dry up your milk.

My sister in law was born prematurely in 1968 and my mother in law has talked about getting into a big big fight with the doctors (she's an RN) because they insisted on twilight sleep and she didn't want it. They knocked her our against her will.

I know there's a lot of talk these days about shaming women for choosing medicated births or formula feeding, but it was really not that long ago that women were treated by the medical profession like brainless baby-pods with no feelings or needs of their own. My mom was totally amazed at what she saw when I had my son 4 years ago.
posted by soren_lorensen at 3:52 PM on March 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

My oldest son was born in 1976 in a small town in Arkansas. My experience mirrors hers with complete twilight sleep.
posted by raisingsand at 4:29 PM on March 27, 2016

I was born in 1973 in TN. My mother received "twilight" sedation, and remembers pretty much nothing. My father was in the waiting room. When my sister was born in 1977 in AL, my mother received an epidural, which was pretty new at the time. My father was still in the waiting room (but that was probably because he had no interest in the birthing process, my mom thinks he would have been allowed in.)
posted by kimdog at 4:31 PM on March 27, 2016

I was born in 1970 in Cocoa Beach FL - my mom was completely knocked out. For my brother's birth 4 years later, she also chose to be completely knocked out, but could have chosen an epidural. They weren't really common at that point, and she'd already had the twilight sleep with me, so she chose that again.

I don't think forceps were used on me, but I do know it was a pretty long labor, probably because of the drugs. My brother was much faster, and my mom has said she liked his doctor much more so maybe they were a bit more careful with the dosage?
posted by lootie777 at 5:43 PM on March 27, 2016

I was born in 1975. My mother's doctor had a charity golf game the next day and would be away, so he induced labor using pitocin on three patients simultaneously. The labor was extremely intense as a result and she elected to take some type of pain medication, but she was fully awake for the entire labor, episiotomy, etc. My dad was definitely present, because he commented to my mother that I looked "rotten" and had a full head of black hair. The doctor explained that I was not in fact rotten, just covered with vernix caseosa. She was in the hospital for about three days, and she spent most of it receiving the dreaded fundal massage and trying to poop. They wouldn't let her leave until pooping (with evidence!) happened. She also received some type of shot to dry up her milk. There was zero pressure to breastfeed.
posted by xyzzy at 8:03 PM on March 27, 2016

Deliver Me from Pain: Anesthesia and Birth in America by Jaqueline Wolf is a scholarly and readable book on the evolution of medicalized birth in the US, with a very good portion on the era in question.
posted by sutureselves at 8:22 AM on March 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

And check out the versions of "Our Bodies, Ourselves" that were published during that time. They have entire chapters devoted to childbirth and the difficulties involved.
posted by Melismata at 10:20 AM on March 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Several of us from our birth mother's support group, Concerned United Birthparents, had a chapter in an early addition of "Our Bodies, Ourselves" about the abuses unwed mothers were subjected to in that era, especially coerced adoption surrender. The late Carole Anderson was the main author but me and some others contributed ideas.

Another good book that touches on the subject of childbirth is "For Her Own Good: 100 Years of Expert Advice to Women." Barbara Ehrenreich was one of the co-authors.

An important thing to note about obstetrical practice in the 60s and earlier, women were absolutely not consulted about what they preferred, it was all up to the doctor who knew best, and most mothers were kept ignorant of what childbirth actually involved. The idea of educated choice for the mother never even came up. My daughter in law just had a baby, read up on options, took classes with my son, and she opted for an epidural and did just fine. I am very glad for her and would want no mother to go through what I did.

As a clinic patient I was not told one thing about what to expect, and as an unwed mother I was totally alone in labor and treated with disdain by the labor nurses, I have no idea who delivered my baby because I was knocked out cold. I had one ancient book about pregnancy, and as it is I knew more than most of the clinic girls because I was a college student and many were younger and minorities. We were all treated like meat on an assembly line. I was over-medicated, some unwed mothers were given no pain relief and had no instruction on how to breathe or anything else, just told it was their punishment for "sinning".
posted by mermayd at 1:09 PM on March 28, 2016 [4 favorites]