In the Good Olde Tymes

[jenny_islander]

How long would you have lived back in the times when everyone was a fine upstanding independent patriarchal right-wing Christian with a well-run home business and a non-laboring wife who always dressed real pretty and all that other pipe-dream nonsense? How long would you have lived in the real old days, not the ones that fundamentalists tell each other stories about?

As for me, I caught strep throat when I was about 11 years old. It was going around. Basically if one person in the household catches it, everyone in that household will have it within a week. (This would include the headship going to the country store to get tools for his valiant manly lifestyle and being in the store when somebody coughed, so the facts that I went to public school and my mother worked at a public library are not relevant.) Antibiotics will cure it. Effective antibiotics were invented less than a hundred years ago. Before that time, strep often progressed to scarlet fever, which might become rheumatic fever--or it just jumped straight to rheumatic fever. The kids who came out the other end of that process alive could be messed up for life. Did you see the recent Captain America movie? Steve Rogers before the serum is a pretty accurate representation of a rheumatic fever survivor. He is stunted and sickly looking and he has a list of chronic symptoms on his medical chart that go down the entire page. The one that would concern me the most would be the problems with his heart due to having had rheumatic fever. See, I had to stay on the couch for the end of my first pregnancy because while my ticker is just fine, somebody else needed my circulatory system, so if I got up and tried to do stuff, my blood pressure went up. I sailed through that birth. But if I had had a damaged heart--? Having the baby at home without access to a modern hospital would probably have widowed my husband.

So chalk me up as one of the many, many people who would be dead by now if this were the Good Olde Tymes. Also, if I had dodged the bullet during my bout with strep and my first pregnancy, I would right now be nearly blind. Without these glasses on my nose, I can barely read the letters I am typing right now. Glasses were invented in what were technically the Good Olde Tymes if you pretend that nobody was a godless Cathlick and ignore the horrible things people felt free to do to oppressed groups for fun (Jew-baiting on Easter morning, whee!), but lightweight plastic glasses are a modern invention. I wear these plastic lenses because glass ones are so heavy I get incapacitating headaches from them.

What about you?

[Kitty]

I had pneumonia twice when I was a kid. I would have died after the first bout at age 2.

[BayLee_10]

I would have died of peritonitis when my appendix burst at age 12. Few survived that in the bad ole days. My opinion is that these are the good old days. God bless technology!!

[Sola]

I would have been dead at 5. I had bacterial meningitis and only just pulled through.

Mind you saying that I might have not even been born in the first place. My mother was born in 1948 and she was a preemie. My gran fell down some steps outside the hairdressers when she was 32 weeks pregnant. It sent her into labour and my mother was born at 3lbs in weight. It's a miracle she lived really as there were no NICUs or SCBUs in 1948 but at least she did spend a month in the hospital with my gran.

[emmyfair]

I would have died in childbirth. My child would have died also.

[kpmom]

We're a hardy bunch, so I probably would have made it to my child-bearing years. But my first son was born by emerg. c-section as I was leaking amniotic fluid. Since they didn't have ultrasounds back then and wouldn't have known, I'm guessing neither he nor I would have made it out of that one.

As Carlie Simon said, these are the good old days.

[anniebgood]

My dad was born in 1899 and my mom was born in 1924. Both had moms who lost babies during infanthood. My mom was a OB nurse and he married her after he met her in the hospital. She told me the nuns liked him and so did the ER staff (he was a county sheriff). They got married in 1951 and there was no question of her staying at home. She worked up till 2 weeks before I was born. She worked after I was born. they took shifts so he could stay home with me while she worked. Did the same after my brother was born too. We had medical coverage and the most important thing to my Dad was education.

As I told a kid on another board, the good olde tymes weren't idyllic, there was still crime, people still did unthinkable things to other people, but we didn't have instantaneous news coverage of it. There were good things about growing up in the 50's, we made annual trips to Canada, we vacationed at the shared cottage we owned in Wisconsin, we spent weeks at my grandpas farm. We didn't feel underprivileged because we had what we needed.

I don't understand truly the fundie's shunning of proper decent medical care. One child with a communicable illness could devastate an entire family. Are they leaving it up to god? In my very humble opinion, God created healers, healers who are educated to deal with illness, are they rejecting what God has placed for them to use? Sounds like a waste of talents again.

{Sorry for the ramble. Lack of sleep and worry. Mom spent 7 hours in the ER yesterday with me by her side. Kidney infection. I'm going to have to get my niece to police her liquid intake. She's better today but she's still shaky. }

[ladypuglover]

My mom accidently stepped on a russian olive thorn that not only peirced her sandle but went in 3 inches in her heel bone when she was 4-5 months pg with me. From that she went into labor and they had used DES and having her head lower than her pelvis for 10 days. So most likely I would have never have been born.

If I did survive, then I would have died at 2 weeks, as it was my heart was stopped for 5 minutes at that moment. I was a very ill child until the age of 12 and have "died" several times over but thankfully the doctors were always able to bring me back.

At thirteen I had scoliosis so severe that I was slowly being crushed to death. It moved so fast from first being found in Sept that when I had my surgery in Dec that I had a 70 degree curve and a 80 degree curve of my spine. I would have been dead by May if not for the surgery.

And if by some lucky chance I did survive into adulthood? I would have died in pregnancy for sure. Infact my second son's heart stopped and I was checking out of the hotel of life myself and they had to use these tiny paddles on my lower back to get his heart starting, it was touch and go for several hours. He is a very healthy 21 year old now that was a very healthy kiddo to boot.

Nope, the good old days would have killed me hundreds of times over.

[bekkah]

I would have been dead for sure.....I was a big baby and pretty sure my mom wouldn't have delivered a live baby or survived. I also was a sickly child always getting sick with ear infections or strep. So yep I would be dead without antibiotics. I wouldn't trade living back then. I would have been married young and pretty sure dead.

[ADoyle90815]

I mentioned on another thread that my brother would have died at a month old from pneumonia. He almost died from it even with hospitals and modern treatments. As for myself, I might have died after birth since from what I've read, I wasn't breathing right away. I also had several ear infections that could have killed me before antibiotics.

[AmandaP]

Well - Since I was a VBAC baby and my older sister's birth and complications would have killed my mom pre-20th century, I'm guessing I would have never been born.

If I WAS born, multiple bouts of strep would have taken me out before I ever got to my first childbirth, which included sufficient complications to end my life and/or my first son's (premature labor, very poor contractions, delayed labor, bad jaundice for him, etc...). And finally, if by some insane miracle I made it through that, my second pregnancy would have ended very badly for both me and my second son (nearly identical complications but even MORE premature, etc...).

[Eclipse]

I would not have been conceived, same with my younger sister. My mother cannot give birth naturally and she and my older sister would have died in childbirth. That is a fact I've been told all my life.

If I was born, I would not have lived long. I became lactose intolerant in early infancy and I would have starved to death as the Good Olde Tymes didn't have diary free formula. Or my paediatric hypothyroidism would have killed me in early adulthood.

[gilora]

I would have died in childbirth. My son was breech.

My brother would have died of pneumonia at the age of 3.

[AnnoDomini]

At least two of my now-living siblings would be dead, and probably my mother too, dying in childbirth. My mother would be nonfunctional (as opposed to semi-functional) due to her depression.

Ugh. I hate the idea of 'the good old days'. No such thing. These are the good old days.

[Bookworm]

I would not have been born, since my mother almost died in pregnancy and it took antibiotics to cure her. After that, I was a pretty healthy kid, had a few bouts of strep before I was ten but only took antibiotics for it once and still did not get rheumatic fever or anything. But yeah, I heart modern medicine.

[SinkDweller]

editing as an afterhought

[emmiedahl]

First, me and two of my siblings would have died at birth or in infancy. My mother went into early labor with all of us and we were saved by technology. Except, we would not have been conceived at all if my mother had not had several back surgeries in her early teens to treat scoliosis. They literally had to stretch and fuse her vertebrae; she had several curves, so a brace was not sufficient. Her doctor said that her backbone would have collapsed in another few years.

Had I survived, I would have died in chidbirth with my first. He might have survived (without induction, probably not), but then he would have died of a ruptured appendix later in life. The other four would not exist in this scenario, so I won't get into the various ways they would be dead.

My husband would not have been able to divorce his previous wife, who cheated on him repeatedly with anything that walks. Maybe she would have been stoned to death? I don't know, that seems harsh considering that they are both very happy and fulfilled outside of a marriage that was just toxic because of a bad combination of personalities. Can I say it? Some marriages need to end, even if there are children involved. *Especially* when there are children involved.

My youngest sister, who is adopted, would not exist because there is no prostitution in the magic fundie world.

My family would have starved to death and ended up homeless after my husband lost his job. I would not be able to work and support us; even with me working, my family uses government programs that did not exist in the Goode Olde Tymes.

[Miss M]

Having had pneumonia several times when I was young, I would have been like my Great Uncle...Shirley Bower Body, 1920 to 1923, died of PNEUMONIA! Or my most darling Grandfather, who would have died of Tuberculosis in the late 50's if it wasn't for fucking advances in medical care for TB patients!

Or I would have died from my severe allergy to bees when I got stung the first time when I was 8, spent a week in the hospital with a left leg the size of a cannon! Thank you medical science for Epi-Pens!!

I would not have had my Brother Rick for 10 years I had him around, also my Mother would have without question died in childbirth in 1966, they both lived, but he pulled her entire uterus out with him!! Sadly Rick was shot in the head by his best friend while the friend was showing off a gun his stupid dumb ass Father keep in a night stand drawer, in a rural farm town of 1000 people in 1978!!!

AD, shut the FUCK UP!! (sorry I am so sick of her I am about ready to leave this forum, unless someone sends me a nice Lemon Coconut cake or cupcakes)!!

Miss M.

[Defrauding Errday]

If I lived in the Good Olde Tymes, my life would most likely be short and miserable. Even if my siblings and I didn't die from asthma complications, depending on how far back we're talking about we would either be slaves and/or face endless discrimination. Fundies always forget that life wasn't good back then if you weren't white.

[meda]

In the good old days, my family would have been forced to live on a reservation, so I probably would be dead in childhood from malnutrition, infectious disease, or homicidal settlers. Had I lived past early childhood, I would have been sent away from my family to an indian boarding school, where I probably would have at least been given glasses and a rudimentary education and trained for some sort of female "trade" like laundress. I then could have spend my remaining years working as the colored help for those upper middle Victorians Dougie loves so much.

[PBrooke]

(I am new to this board -- this is my first post! I discovered the fundie blogs because a member of our extended family used to hang out with the Mortons -- she is mentioned in the early blog and helped with the first two weddings -- and it was a way of keeping track of her. Actually the blogs were how I found out one of her children was killed -- the Mortons reported it before she told the family.)

I think about this topic -- the bad old days -- whenever I read this blog:

http://aspiring-homemaker.blogspotDOTcom/

She does know that the 19th century was NOT a good time for African Americans in the US, right? But I've never seen that addressed on her blog. But her pictures are gorgeous and the images she's found to put on the side are terrific.

SinkDweller - I think I remember, from reading the blog, who you might be talking about - the baby that was hit by a car? That was so terrible. I always wondered what happened to that family. Did she drift away from the Mortons or have a falling-out?

I had pneumonia as a chid that was so bad that when they saw my X-rays they tested me for TB. Cleared right up with antibiotics and modern care.

[vermonter]

I would have died while being born most likely, as my mother had to have an emergency c-section because my heart rate was slowing significantly. I don't know the details (I don't think my mom does either), so I don't know if she would have lived or not.

[samithemage]

I had constant severe tonsillitis, to the point that most nights I had trouble breathing. I also had constant infections of some sort. (I remember being little and having an ear infection. It sounded in my ears like something was eating my brain. I remember a constant crunching noise, and being terrified.) By the time I was 5, they had swollen to the size of golf balls, and I spent most night heaving and snoring. They decided it would be best for them to be removed because of my breathing difficulties and recurrent infections. This combined with the many problems I've had with my teeth that required surgical intervention, and I doubt I would have made it out of childhood.

[ladypuglover]

All these stories of woman and infants almost dieing in labor/childbirth in modern times confuses the hell out of me that some fundy/hippy women want an unassisted birth or refuse any form of prenatal care. You can have a home birth if you and baby are deemed safe enough and have a qualified midwife if that is what you want but for the love of your child, have that midwife!

[browngrl]

I have a bad medical condition which is kept in remission with powerful drugs. A hundred years ago I would have either died or suffered horribly. As it is today - I live a normal life. Even if by some miracle my disease went into spontaneous remission the colour of my skin and being a female would have relegated me to two career options: menial work, wife. I would not have had the financial/educational wherewithal to wait for my husband (who I married when I was 30) but instead would have had my husband selected for me. Today I get to say what I want - but 100 years ago I would have no choice but to keep sweet if I wanted to survive. Live in the "good old days" - no freaking way.