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This thread is soooo fascinating! I love all things history and baby related.

My Grandma BF all three of her kids (need to ask about the twilight sleep thing) and her friends all thought she was CRAZY! They were like, "But how do you do anything or leave the house?" And my Grandma said everyone was a SAHM back then, where would they go? And why couldn't they take baby with them. She said it just seemed easier than formula, formula was not the same as it is now. Her one friend finally decided to try BF on her 4th kid and was amazed at how easy it really was.

My mom had all natural births, no ultrasounds, though by the time my brother was born in 88 I believe it was an option. And she said they used forceps with me because I wouldn't come out. My mom also broke tons of blood vessels in her face from pushing so hard, she said she looked awful after I was born.

My mom didn't know she was having twins until she was in labor and they finally did an ultrasound (1981) and had us vaginally. My sister was breech so they had to reach in and turn her around.

Funny story, my sister (3 years younger than me) had twins only 6 years ago and didn't know she was having twins until she was still in labor after having the first one.

So things don't change too much.

My grandma had all three of her children via c-section, but the third one was done at 35 weeks because her doctor was going on vacation (!) and he told her it was no big deal. The baby (my uncle) had severely underdeveloped lungs and was in the hospital for over a month. She tried to BF with her first (my mom) but her doctor told her it was too hard on a mothers body and that she should just use formula.

My mom had me in a military hospital, with no pain medication.
She had my little sister at home in the bathtub (planned home birth) and my dad delivered her (while I watched) because the midwife didn't make it in time! She was in labor for 30 hours with me and only 2 with my sister.

Wow crazy stories here! I saw on that Ricki Lake documentary (The Business of Being Born?) that women used to be tied to the bed and given that twilight sleep for the entire labor. Totally insane! I have no idea about my grandmothers' birth experiences in the 1930s & 1940s. My mom went into labor with my oldest sister probably a couple weeks late (early 1970s) and labored in a room full of other women. She said that the pain was so bad she pulled the curtain separating the beds down. Then they overdid it with the epidural so she felt like a floating head. She thinks she had undiagnosed GD because my sister was big and her shoulders wouldn't fit so she got yanked out and has shoulder problems to this day. After that my other sister and I were scheduled c-sections and she was put under general anesthesia. My dad was in the waiting room for all 3 of us. She didn't breastfeed any of us but said it was because my oldest sister was in the incubator for blood sugar issues so she couldn't and then figured since she didn't bf the first time she wouldn't at all.

My grandmother got pregnant with my dad immediately after a MC. She was 44 weeks pregnant. The doctors didn't believe her and told her that she just didn't know how to count in Spanish (dad was born in South America). My uncle was due around Christmas and was born at the end of January. God knows what was going on.
She was told not to BF any of her kids because she was a nervous personality and the babies would catch that from her milk.

My mom had three un-medicated births and BF'd us all. No surprises there.

I don't know about my grandmothers but my mother had a medfree birth, breastfed for a year, wore us in slings and did BLW.
She thought it was crazy that I developed pre-e, she had totally uncomplicated pregnancies, didn't understand pumping/breastfeeding issues when I was back at the office when J was 7 weeks old - she was a SAHM and breastfed for over a year with both my brother and I, didn't understand why I would buy puree pouches when I can just make babyfood - woman I work 40+/week there aren't enough hours in the day!

Kind of funny that it's backwards, hehe

@Mae: totally! for a while DS wouldn't really take anything throughout the day, so when I'd come home, I'd be BFing every hour on the hour including overnight, then I'd get up to get presentable for work. I remember telling her how exhausted I was and she was like, "oh yeah, I remember those days.. " uh sorry, no you don't, haha

@oliviaoblivia: Catching nervousness from milk! Crazy.

I don't know anything about my grandmothers' births, but they were all abroad and probably at home. My father was born at home and no one really knows his birthday, they just "picked one" when they registered the birth.

My mom told me that when she was pregnant, you had to bring your urine to the doctor's office and they tested it there....can you imagine?

When my mom was pregnant with me (in '78) she went 18 days past her due date. Can you imagine? That's almost 3 weeks overdue! I heard this story my whole life and never really thought much about it until I got pregnant. Turns out she had irregular cycles and they were usually around 6 weeks long, so she probably ovulated 2 weeks later than her LMP would put her. But no one really worried about it then. She told me doctors just watched for when you dropped.

She did have a natural birth with me, which she said was popular then. And she breast fed me for 6 months. She totally doesn't get the whole pumping thing and told me last night that she only ever put formula in bottles, which they heated up in the microwave, lol.

@stargal: What? So if you have an afternoon appt you have to carry around a cup of urine all day?! Haha - that sounds ridiculous!

@Mae: Hahahaha - no kidding! Brown paper bag, I guess?!

The bizarre things they told parents back in the day - my mom had a c-section because at 42 weeks her amniotic fluid was really low, but they told my dad that the fluid being low could cause me to be all scratched up coming out. No matter how many times I try to explain it now he doesn't believe me.

Again my grandmother wasn't encouraged to BF but instead use formula. I forget why but I think she said at one point they were making their own "formula" with raw cows milk (or very lightly pasteurized) and a raw egg for protein. Shaken up in the bottle.

Luckily my grandmother loves BFing now and loved to hear stories about me BFing my daughter because she really wishes she could have done it with her boys.

My mom never had an ultrasound for any of us (born from 1976-1984), and she had to share a hospital room. She was amazed at the private hospital rom I had and that my husband could stay the whole time.

DH's grandma had fertility problems in the 50's and underwent a procedure to "widen her Fallopian tubes", I don't even want to think about how they did that back then!

I was pumping in an airport bathroom once and attracted a whole gaggle of older women who were amazed by the pump. They said no one had pumps back when they had kids.

My mom was induced for all 4 pregnancies as she ran about 2 weeks late. However, once she was induced, labor took almost no time at all. I was the 3rd and was born 45 minutes after the induction started. However, I almost killed her as we had just moved to a new state a few months before I was born and her new doctor didn't listen to my mom tell him that she usually would hemorrhage after giving birth. We had very similar pregnancies and I had to be induced. While I didn't inherit the short labor times, I also didn't inherit the hemorrhaging so that's a win.

She also was a SAHM and BF all of us for a year. She doesn't understand why people think BF'ing is hard. She was also adamant that I "rough up my nipples" to prepare them for BF'ing. I did not.

We were all born between '74-'82.