I very nearly lost my life over my first confinement, through being
ignorant of how to take care of myself beforehand. I had lived about
eighty miles away from home for some years, and was away from my
mother at the time, also too shy and reticent to ever mention my
condition to neighbours. I had always been strong and healthy, and
never took medicine or aperients in any shape or form, in fact, never
thought about it, and acted just the same when pregnant, although
dreadfully constipated all the time. I thought it was a result of my
condition. At confinement, after twenty-four hours’ pain and suffering
I was seized with convulsions just as the baby was at the point of
being born, and knew no more for about twelve hours. Another doctor
was fetched, and the child was got away somehow, also my friends
telegraphed for, as they expected me to die. However, that did not
happen. But the doctors said it was the only case of convulsions at
confinement that they had ever heard of the patient living after, and
they blamed it to the clogged condition of the bowels. I was quite
normal over the second confinement. There may perhaps not be much in
this, except, perhaps, if I had known a bit more about such things, it
would have been a lot better for me. My girl is nineteen now.
It seems almost incredible that I was so ignorant, but I had lived
quietly a long time with a strictly particular widow lady, and had
hardly ever heard such things discussed.
_Wages 10s. to 30s.; two children._