In 1970, babies were still
delivered in the building next to the dispensary
(the doctor’s surgery). We had a midwife in the
village, Elisabeth Müller. It was very
practical, similar to a home birth. ‘Aunt Lissi’
was very helpful and she was always there when
needed. Meals were prepared at home and brought
over.
Unfortunately, there very soon came an order
that expectant mothers had to attend the women’s
clinic in Temeschburg for the delivery. There,
the beds were often doubled up. The staff were
mostly unfriendly and arrogant. The husband was
not allowed anywhere near. You felt as though
you had been abandoned. Sometimes, there were
five or six births going on in the same delivery
room. Out of necessity, you had to see all the
other stages of delivery happening. No visitors
were allowed (as a measure against danger of
infection, it was said). The only way to get in
touch with the young mother was through the
porter. He would be bribed with money and would
then hand over the bunch of flowers, or any
other gift from the relatives, to the patient
and tell her that the young father was waiting
in the street. In this way, she could show the
newborn baby to the happy father, who had
already been waiting for hours, through the
window. The window was often covered with a
fly-net. You couldn’t really make yourself
understood properly with all the noisy traffic
going by. You couldn’t phone from outside, and
back home in the village there were almost no
private telephones. A week, or longer, would
pass by before the young father was allowed to
hold his wife and child in his arms. Transport
home also had to be planned. You had to organize
a driver and a car well in advance. Few had
their own car. A taxi to Alexanderhausen was
very expensive.
Once you arrived home, things were better.
Usually, your own mother and grandmother were
there to help and advise. We sewed our own
nappies out of cotton material. These were
washed and boiled after every use, so the child
was clean. The nappies would often be ironed,
which made them softer.
There were no contraceptives available and
abortions were not allowed as the government
wanted large families.
The
baptism was usually held seven weeks after the
birth. The godparents were still usually
siblings or close relatives of the young
parents. The godmother would bring a home-baked
cake before the baptism. Gifts would include,
for example, baby clothes, bed linen for the
cradle, and even sums of money. One could only
rarely travel to the church in the coach, as
this had been dispossessed and was only
available for use to the village leaders.
As
the young people in the village all knew each
other, and may were friends, it often happened
that their children were the same age. So they
visited each other with their babies (today we
have playgroups) and were able to chat about
everything, e.g. the first teeth, first steps,
first words or sentence.
It
was tradition (although not everyone did it) to
shave the baby’s head when it was one year old,
and the locks of hair would be carefully kept.
It was said that the hair would then grow back
thicker.
