I was married at the age of nineteen years. My boy was born when I
was twenty-one years. Although during pregnancy I realised I was to
become a mother, I had never been taught what I should do or should
not do during that time. One of my sufferings during pregnancy was due
to over-sensitiveness. I have thought, especially since hearing Mrs.
----’s address on “Moral Hygiene,” what a comfort and help it would
have been to me, had the above subject been taught when we were young
by school-teachers, or had our mothers realised the need of explaining
nature as a necessary form of education. I do hope that the community
will soon realise how necessary it is for boys and girls to have
knowledge of this important subject.
When I was confined, the doctor and monthly nurse were both with me.
A few hours after the birth of my boy, when the nurse brought me some
gruel, I sat up in bed to eat, but was soon told to lie down again. I
do not know whether it was due to that act of ignorance, but I suffered
with my back for a long time. My boy when born was a big and lovely
baby; he is now eleven years old, a picture of health, standing 5 feet
and 1/2 inch in his stockings.
I felt very well while lying in bed after my boy was born. It was when
I got up and dressed the tenth day I realised my weakness. I was glad
to lie on my back in less than an hour after.
My husband had been out of work for six weeks during the time of
pregnancy, and again another six weeks when baby was four and a half
months old. I have mentioned the above fact, for I am sure it was
partly due to that that I did not regain my strength for years after.
I fed the baby on the breast for thirteen months. By that time I felt
so low that it was an effort to walk upstairs, and was glad to sit on
the top stair to pull myself together; so I went on until I got really
ill. I was under the doctor’s care for three months. Meanwhile I had
had several attacks of inflammation inwardly, but the last attack was
so severe I myself was frightened. The doctor then told me it would be
some time before I regained my strength. I certainly gained strength
after that illness; part of it, I feel, was due to rest.
_Wages 21s. to 31s. 6d.; one child._