Only one toilet to use.
Faith Simon (nee McClelland) shares memories of giving birth at Maitland Hospital.
My memories of time spent at Maitland Hospital giving birth to my two babies are mingled with ‘sadness’. I was personally unprepared for the challenges of the experience! My first baby, on 30 March 1969, may not have been born in the Addison wing but my second, on 12 July 1973 certainly was. Despite the challenges, I left the hospital some days later in each case, with two healthy children the older of whom had her own baby in Maitland hospital in January 2000.
Left: Faith Simon with her granddaughter at Maitland Hospital on the day of her granddaughter’s birth, 2000.
On 29 March 1969 (aged 24) after experiencing ‘labour pains’ at home all that day, I was admitted to the hospital where the contractions continued until early the next morning and I gave birth to my first born. I was under the care of a local GP Dr Abrahams who attended the birth. Sadly after ‘suffering’ for many, many hours and hoping and expecting to witness the actual birth and joy of holding my newborn, at the critical moment I was administered anaesthetic, without my permission. This meant I was unconscious at the very end and taken to the general ward before ‘coming round’, where another new mother there, told me I had had a daughter. Such disappointment to miss the delivery! … After a couple of days things settled for baby and I. To my further disappointment, however, I was not well enough informed or supported to breast feed for very long and I went home supplementing the baby’s feed with cow’s milk. The overall experience was sad for me as I had always hoped for ‘natural’ birth and after care.
Four years later, on the afternoon of 11 July 1973 and many days after my ‘due date’, my waters broke and contractions soon began. That evening my husband dropped me off at Maitland Hospital. This was common practice. Husbands or other members of the family were not included in the birthing event. I remember feeling very alone, cold and shaky, lying in an unfamiliar bed and location in the labour ward, during that long night. I gave birth the following day (without anaesthetic) attended by Dr Kwa of East Maitland.
One particular memory of my stay in the Addison ward was that there was only one toilet to use. This was shared between probably 12 mothers! Also, in those days, the babies were kept in the Nursery which was located at the end of a corridor and mothers were not encouraged or perhaps even allowed to visit. Babies were brought around to the mothers at ‘feeding time’ (for about one hour every 4 hrs during the day). I felt the pressure to ‘perform’ but thankfully with increased knowledge and then support from Nursing Mothers’ Association, I went home and fully breastfed my second infant for 12 months.
Times did change for the better in the 30 years following the birth of my older daughter and in 2000 she had her own baby in Maitland Hospital. On this occasion her husband was with her during labour and the birth process. She was not confined to a bed in a cubicle as I was, but had the use of a birthing suite and allowed to move freely, even enjoying the experience of a bath to ease the discomfort of contractions. Then, because she had private health insurance, she had the use of her own room and bathroom. Her baby was able to be beside her for ‘on demand’ feeds.