Working for a parenting website means I get to constantly relive all those bad/good pregnancy moments and the toddler wrangling years, find support during tween hell … and freak out about what lies ahead in the teen twilight zone.
Deep breaths, Alana, deep breaths.
In my travels, I stumbled across a story on iVillage yesterday about what it was like to have a baby 30 years ago. I’ve always been freaked out about the idea of squeezing out a baby in the ’60s when my mum birthed me, but I’d always thought the ’80s were pretty civilised. I mean, it was the era of fluoro bubble skirts, spiral perms and Boy George – how could it not be progressive?
But no, labour in the ’80s was terrifying. I am so bloody lucky I didn’t slip up on the birth control and join the ranks of teen mums.
Well, there was this one time I had to go to family planning, but I was supporting a friend. I swear. And I totally don’t remember pregnancy tests being like this:
“Back in the 80s it would mean an appointment with your GP, who might even ask you to wait until you’d missed two periods before they checked. They’d then send a urine sample off to the lab with a further agonising wait for up to 10 days before the results came back.”
Stressful! Especially for a 16-year-old. I much prefer the wee-on-a-stick innovation.
As for actually giving birth:
“Admission to the labour ward is pretty straightforward these days. You turn up at some point during labour, get straight on with giving birth and no one tells you to take a shower. In our mums’ time procedures were a little more regimented and no-one was taking any chances when it came to personal hygiene.
“Shaving and enemas (hot soapy water via a rubber tube or at least a pessary) were still routine in some hospitals, and you’d be expected to take a bath or shower before getting down to business.”
Really?
I also can’t believe this sort of thing was still happening: