Birthing trends: ‘Mad Men’ explores the horrors of giving birth in the ’60s; how about now and in the future?
Last Sunday’s episode of “Mad Men” offered a visceral and scary view of giving birth in the 1960s. It was titled very appropriately “The Fog.” (The producers of the show even did a whole video about why they wanted to explore giving birth in the 1960s. See the clip above. The first 2.5 minutes apply to our topic.)
Betty Draper was pregnant with her third child on the show. She smoked and drank her way through the pregnancy and didn’t eat much other than Melba toast and cottage cheese, so she wouldn’t ruin her figure of course. (Oh is that where I went wrong – eating sausage biscuits?)
(Here’s part of Betty’s visit to the hospital to give birth.)
When the time came, her husband Don drove her to the hospital. The nurse plopped her in a wheel chair and told Don his job was done and to go sit and wait. They proceeded to take her a room to shave her entirely and give her an enema. These things sound terrible under normal circumstances much less while you’re in labor. Then she was given narcotics (by a nurse that kept missing her vein – where is the patient’s bill of rights???) to put her into a fog to give birth.
Later in the episode, she was calling for Don and they wouldn’t bring him to her. She was all alone, drugged up and freaking out!
After a long dream sequence, she finally comes to in her hospital room holding her newborn. (That seems safe give the drugged up lady her brand-new baby!)
It was heartwrenching to watch what a terrible experience it was to give birth back then. No warmth. No personal choice. No options. No husband with you to help you and to experience the joy. No joy.
I know my mother had the twilight drug with both of us. She had no idea what she had either time and had no idea how we came out of her body.
I’m so happy it’s not like that anymore. My first birthing experience was OK, but my second and third births with my midwives were much better. I had my birth plan for the last two. The midwives and nurses actually read it and knew exactly what I wanted from my birthing experience and what I was worried about. Michael didn’t leave my side for even a moment. They used minimal drugs with my second and none with my third. I nursed all three immediately and roomed in with them all. I co-slept with my last two in the hospital. The last two births were exactly the experience I wanted.
All of the practices of the ’60s seem so crazy now. After watching the show together, Michael wondered which practices of ours will be thought of as foolish or scary in the future.
If you saw the show, tell me what you thought of Betty’s birthing experience. If you gave birth in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s or 2000s tell us about your experiences then. How do you think childbirth will change for the next generation? What will they think we did was crazy?
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85 comments Add your comment
Please
September 18th, 2009
9:58 am
Not a D. The only thing I think I am entitled to is my opinion.
Andrea
September 18th, 2009
10:00 am
@MJG: No you are not alone in your misery. When I had my daughter she was a whopper (over 8 pounds) and I had TWO epidurals that never worked because the anesthesiologist didn’t place the thing in my back right so when I was fed medicine it never went into my veins. I was in labor for 15 1/2 hours before she got here.
I was always told ‘As soon as you see the baby, you forget about the labor’. BIG LIE! I loved her from the moment I saw her but I was still in pain.
Hey Andrea and New Stepmom...
September 18th, 2009
10:19 am
…both of you have “heard” of men who were grossed out and turned of sexually after viewing the birth process. I have “heard”, too, that if a frog had wings he would not whomp his a$$ every time he jumped.
deidre_NC
September 18th, 2009
10:21 am
1974 1st son—i was in labor for 14 hours-i swear this is true, when i started pushing thats when they gave me the epideural….it didnt take effect until he was born so i spent the first several hours of his life numb from the waist down…i was SO MAD!! i was also stupid..i had read a book about natural childbirth that convinced me that childbirth wasnt painful if you did it right!!! i was scared to death because of the pain that i thought meant things werent right..it was not a great experience!!! he wieghed 7 lbs
1976-first daughter-had a wonderful WOMAN doctor…not drugs..labor lasted 6 hours–all natural-no enema no shaving etc…husband was with me the whole time…its was a great experience…but yeah it did hurt like hell lol..she weighed 8 lns and was 18 in long so it was like giving birth to a little butterball turkey lol..
1981-2nd son-10 hrs of labor-no meds-no progress with labor-finally got inducing drugs…3 hours later 9 lbs son born…still no drugs…husband was there….not too bad..doctor had told me he would weigh 6 lbs…he weighed 9 lol
1992-2nd daughter-had placenta previa-c-section 6 weeks early after a 2 week hospital stay-husband was there and said it was sorta like watching a deer being gutted…(rolls my eyes)–
when i got pregnant with the 4th i was all about epideural..no way was i going natural again..i decided that that was a bunch of crap…why have so much pain if you dont need to…thats how my attitude changed in the 17 years from 1st birth to 4th….i breastfed all….my 2nd son..they tried to give me those pills that dry your milk…lucky for me i am no one to take pills without knowing exactly what they are and what they are for…nurse said oh thats just standard procedure—geeze…
i have to say-when i was pregnant with my 1st—i was given no list of what to do or not do….2 years later with my 2nd..i was given a list a mile long of what NOT to do…what not to eat-drink-tons of stuff…and a lot of it i had done with my first…after that i just kind of depended on my own intelligence and did what i thought was right…..
oh yeah…the first one…i was given tons of drugs for pain i guess…i was really out of it and so scared and the nurses were so hateful….i hoinestly thought i was dying because it hurt so bad…none of them ever told me it was normal to hurt!!! they barely spoke english….when my water broke and my husband went to tell them they thought he wanted a glass of water and took him to the water fountain lol..he was as uniformed as i was about the whole process and hated it..the second one we took lamaze classes and it was much better!
deidre_NC
September 18th, 2009
10:25 am
tons of typos for all you typo police out there…sorry :)
YUKI
September 18th, 2009
10:50 am
I forgot to mention the funny thing that happened right after my son was born. On the birth plan we decided that my husband would cut the cord (he didn’t want to at first but changed his mind), but the cord snapped as he was coming out (I think it was wrapped around neck in some way) and got blood all over the midwife. I didn’t realize what had happened then I look up and there is the midwife with blood all over her face and in her hair. I almost died, it was sort of horrifying but she had a sense of humor about it and said she has seen everything imaginable. Just one of those crazy things that happens.
teeincsg
September 18th, 2009
10:51 am
@ MotherJaneGoose: I’m glad things are going fine for your daughter and your family. I cannot imagine!
I don’t watch the show, but had my kids within the past 5 years.
I had wonderful pregnancies for both, especially my first. I did have gestational diabetes for both though, and had to take insulin the last three weeks of my second pregnancy. But other than that it was great.
My daughter was a big baby as far as my midwife was concerned, and I’m totally convinced to this day that she stripped my membranes at my last visit which really ended up being my last visit because I went into labor 8 hours later. I labored for 20 hours but I would not dilate past 4 and my daughter was so comfortable she started going into distress which gave way to me having an emergency C. She was fine though and completely changed my life. I was up and at ‘em as soon as I was released from recovery.
I was considered “high risk” with my son because of my previous gestational diabetes with my daughter so a C-section was scheduled. Cool with me, I had nothing to prove.
Other than him kicking the doctor when she went to get him and some fluid on his lungs, he was fine.
He was the sleepiest baby I ever met!
teeincsg
September 18th, 2009
10:54 am
Oh, and my husband was there…acting like he was a doctor. He really got into the scrubs and mask and posing like he was on a photo shoot and doing stand up comedy in the OR.
Floretta
September 18th, 2009
12:41 pm
@Please: Er, the writer of the episode The Fog was Kater Gordon, birth name Katherine L. Gordon – female.
Most of the writers (7 of 9) on Mad Men are women: Marti Noxon, Lisa Albert, Kater Gordon, Dahvi Waller, Robin Veith, Cathryn Humphris, and Maria Jacquemetton.
Maybe you meant the creator, Matthew Weiner?
Dr. Horrible
September 18th, 2009
1:08 pm
@motherjanegoose
Actually it was cake for me and it was cake for my wife the second time as well. She was in labor with our daughter, now 5, for five hours and she was in labor with our son, now 2, for three hours. Even my wife agrees that the second time around for both of us was cake, compared to the first time.
lakerat
September 18th, 2009
1:16 pm
Dr. Horrible – MJG always likes to stir the pot. She enjoys getting into long winded pissing contests with other posters on the blog for no reason what so ever.
motherjanegoose
September 18th, 2009
1:31 pm
@lakerat, is that you 1;16 or your imposter? You were in my corner yesterday.
Yes, I am long winded…it is one trait I am well aware of.
Since I am tired of stirring a real pot, this is one pot I do like to stir!
Contests are fun too.
@ Dr. Horrible, for many of us a 3-5 hour labor WOULD be a piece of cake!
My sister has a former neighbor who has milked cows for years…while on a stool in a squatting position. She has 10 kids I think and each one has literally popped out as her muscles are so flexible from all that squatting. Maybe in my next life I will milk cows instead of teaching….LOL.
Please
September 18th, 2009
1:35 pm
Kater Gordan aged 27. Not old enough to have experienced childbirth in the ’60’s. Couldn’t find out if she has experienced childbirth at all.
lakerat
September 18th, 2009
2:00 pm
Yes, MJG, that was the imposter at 1:16 – we had the discussion re: your MD’s blunder this time last year so I have refrained from commenting today, yet I did not know that your daughter suffered from the Erb’s Palsy – as someone else has already said, both of you, but especially your daughter, is very lucky due to the boneheadedness of your OB..
HB
September 18th, 2009
2:00 pm
So I take it, Please, that in general you’re opposed to historical fiction? No one can write what on they haven’t actually experienced themselves? Interesting…and limiting. But to each, his own.
lakerat
September 18th, 2009
2:02 pm
My bad – should be “are very lucky”, but your daughter IS lucky!
Please
September 18th, 2009
2:09 pm
HB, how in the world did you manage to get that out of the fact that I don’t quite believe something that someone wrote?
HB
September 18th, 2009
2:26 pm
It just sounds like you’re saying someone will get the possible details mostly wrong in writing a fictional story if they weren’t actually there to experience the time and event as opposed to having done research, interviews, etc. But I guess misunderstood your comments.
Lynn
September 18th, 2009
2:42 pm
1981, 24 hours labor with my first born, 1991, 6 hours with my second & 1994, 1/2 hour with my last…. we almost didn’t make it to the hospital with her ;)
Becky
September 18th, 2009
3:21 pm
HB, you aren’t alone in thinking what you said..I was thinking the same thing..Oh well, as I said before..I haven’t ever given birth, so I guess I don’t know either..
Kris
September 18th, 2009
4:05 pm
1990 – water broke, went to hospital, baby was breach, born via c-section. From home to birth, 3
1/2 hrs, no labor pains! Piece of cake!! After surgery pain was minimal; milk “came in” – worst
part of entire pregnancy!
My mom had three children within a nine year time span (’59, ‘62, ‘68). Her first, her ankles and wrists were strapped to table, legs straight – no
stirrups – no drugs, my brother was over 8 lbs,
birthed by a 120 lb woman. She said it was excrutiating and I have no doubts. Surprised she ever let my dad touch her again. The next two, she
was knocked out, woke up after it was all over.
motherjanegoose
September 18th, 2009
5:50 pm
@ Kris…wow…I thought the milk coming in part WAS a piece of cake compared to being in labor for so long. Childbirth is so different from woman to woman.
D B M
September 18th, 2009
7:09 pm
I was shaved and given an enema in 1981 at the high risk clinic at Crawford Long Hospital ( now Emory Midtown) It was truly horrible, and I told the nurse I could not hold any more , ran to the bathroom and soiled the floor . As I suffered in labor in the bathroom for 30 minutes, I could hear the nurse cursing me outside the door !!!! She deserved to have to clean the mess !!!!
lakerat
September 18th, 2009
8:46 pm
The lakerat that posted at 2:00 and 2:02 is an imposter.
Faye
September 18th, 2009
8:49 pm
First baby was born in 1987 – over 36 hours in labor (hardest labor lasted about 12 hours – pushed for just over 3) – had her in a Naval hospital, no drugs whatsoever – not even for the episiotomy . No shaving, no enema (two things I was nervous about, surprisingly). Because I had an internal fetal monitor, I labored on my back – not really efficient, and because I was afraid to “go” on the table (no one told me that might happen), I didn’t push very efficiently, either. I had to walk to go get her from the nursery to nurse her just a couple hours after giving birth – they were hardcore!
My son was born three years later at good old Kennestone – because my labor was so long with my daughter, and I had read a lot about better labor practices, I tried to stay home as long as possible – well, I almost stayed home TOO long! I was in transition, and was having back labor – I was in so much pain, I asked my husband to take me to the hospital just so I could get some drugs – I thought I was still hours from having the baby. My son was delivered within 10 minutes of our signing in! I never did get any drugs, and I ended up tearing, no episiotomy – the stitches weren’t too bad, though. They brought me my baby :-)
For the record, I talked to my mom who had 4 deliveries in the 60s, and she said Betty Draper’s experiences was pretty dead on as far as the fog, the confusion, the drifting in and out, the awakening with a “new bundle of joy” in her arms – my mom didn’t have hallucinations of her dead father mopping the floor, though! My mom also went to a small hospital where the nurses were great. My dad not being there wasn’t weird because dads weren’t expected to do that then. Strange story with my birth – she was so out of it time-wise, she couldn’t figure out why they were serving her roast beef for breakfast – I was born at 4:18 PM – she thought it was 4:18 AM. She lost an entire 12 hours!
JATL
September 18th, 2009
11:33 pm
My mom always had horror stories of giving birth to me in 1970. They didn’t strap her into the stirrups, but several of her friends experienced that. She was given twilight sleep which ultimately led to an allergic reaction and messed up her thyroid. She didn’t necessarily hallucinate, but she said she was in a crazy fog and saying strange things. She kind of remembers (and was told later by him) telling the doctor that he should just hurry up so they could go plant oak trees in his front yard. She was in labor for 36 hours, and her regular doctor said he would have given her a c-section, but the ancient old-school doctor on call and in town then didn’t want to do one, so we both suffered. She never fully dilated and I was basically dragged out in stirrups. She was shaved and given an enema at the beginning -and my dad was shuffled off to the waiting room for the entire time. When she finally came to and the fog cleared, they brought me to her, and she didn’t even believe I was hers because she was used to bald and blonde babies, and I was huge with black hair and black eyes.
When I had my two, I enjoyed a Nudane narcotic drip and an epidural that actually worked with the second. The first baby epidural did not work very well and I had intense back labor -total labor was 14 hours. Second time around -I was zonked on Nudane and the epidural for most of it. Was in REAL labor for about 9 hours, but given the fabulous epi, I slept until I was awoken and told to push -two pushes and he was out! Say what you want natural childbirth folks, but it was a FANTASTIC way to have a baby through the miracle of modern science! Both of my babies scored 9s on their APGARs (I don’t think this is THAT meaningful, but the natural nazi types -not ALL of you -just some -refuse to believe the drugs don’t dull them, and they obviously weren’t dull). I truly suffered with my first for hours before the epidural and then it didn’t work very well, so I kept suffering, but it seemed much better since at least it got rid of my back labor. I was positively ecstatic when the 2nd baby epidural worked!
Faye
September 19th, 2009
1:14 am
JATL – I envy you (and all my friends who got epis) – I didn’t want to sound like I was hardcore no-drugs – I wanted them; I just wasn’t given them! The Naval hospital didn’t give them unless you were having a C-section, and I got to the hospital too late to have them with my son! Those breathing exercises were for the birds, lol!
JATL
September 19th, 2009
9:04 am
I didn’t think you didn’t want drugs Faye. It sounded like you would have loved to have them! I’m sorry you had such a rough first experience. The women I’m talking about are kind of like (and often the same as) the breast-feeding nazis. Many women advocate and have natural childbirth and breastfeed forever, and that’s great, but there is that special little group who are zealots and think you’re horrible if you use drugs during childbirth or don’t solely breastfeed until the kid is 1 or 2. Their whole attitude really rankles me.
JATL
September 19th, 2009
9:26 am
New Stepmom -just listen to your husband regarding the birth watching. I do know some men who have been completely grossed out by it all, but most are not. I think most are able to separate what is happening in the delivery room and what happens in the bedroom. I was also very concerned about it because I worked with a guy who was hung up on it 10 years after his only child was born. My husband really wasn’t bothered. During our first birth, I made him stay up by my head, but at the very end he was suddenly “down there” -and I was so preoccupied and in pain I really didn’t care what was happening at that point. He watched the entire 2nd time primarily “down there” and I have to fight him off 1/2 the time because I’m not into sex twice a day! So, it really varies from man to man-and I think from experience. Face it -some births are more graphic and involve more blood, water, etc. than others. Just come to an agreement that you both are comfortable with.
Faye
September 19th, 2009
10:14 am
Gotcha, JATL – I am definitely NOT one of those folks! When my daughter has babies (not for several years, I hope) I’m going to recommend that she get at least an epidural – everyone I know who had one seems to have enjoyed the experience so much more. One nice thing about both my labors was that I had beautiful healthy kids with no complications! That made it all worth it :-)
motherjanegoose
September 20th, 2009
1:56 pm
Enter your comments here
JDJ
September 20th, 2009
11:47 pm
July 4th, 1969, I stood at my window in Piedmont Hosp. early in the morning and watched the very first Peachtree Road Race trundle by . . . couple a hundred runners and that was it. Had already endured the shave/enema trauma and was soon to be induce with Pitocin; later I got whatever it was (not Twilight) and didn’t wake up until after 7 that night — they brought me my beautiful baby girl and I was ecstatic and sleepy. Can’t say I miss anything — was never in any great pain, just about what would be hard cramps. No complaints from me or hubby — that’s just how it was.
Oh Shut Up Please
September 21st, 2009
12:15 am
@Please, well opinions are like *ssholes– everyone has one. You are not “entitled” to be taken seriously or to have your opinion respected. That kind of has to be earned.
The answer to your question “How could a man write about childbirth?” is very simple: imagination and empathy. Of which you clearly have neither.
Please
September 21st, 2009
5:12 pm
@ Shut Up Please – I did shut up or didn’t you notice. Idiot
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