WEBVTT 00:00:00.699 --> 00:00:08.699 So, this is Boris Elise interviewing Hazel Van Camp on June 22, 2015 at 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:15.695 2:10. All right, so Hazel. Can you take us back to the time, you know, 00:00:15.728 --> 00:00:19.337 when you were telling me before about the whole conception process and 00:00:19.370 --> 00:00:25.396 meeting your husband to be, do you mind sharing that story with us? Oh, 00:00:25.429 --> 00:00:30.337 doctor predicted that I would never be able to have a family because I'd 00:00:30.370 --> 00:00:38.370 had a little fever. And so when Arlo proposed to me. I told him that I've 00:00:39.329 --> 00:00:44.777 been told that, and he was gone for quite a while and then come back and 00:00:44.810 --> 00:00:49.476 says, I want to take my chances. So we were really surprised and tickled 00:00:49.509 --> 00:00:52.417 when I got pregnant. 00:00:52.450 --> 00:00:58.176 Then we had the Our boy in October 51. 00:00:58.209 --> 00:01:03.176 So how long after you got married did you conceive? We were married in 00:01:03.209 --> 00:01:07.796 March of '50s, so. 00:01:07.829 --> 00:01:13.206 And I never had a sick day all the time I was pregnant. 00:01:13.239 --> 00:01:20.566 Woke up in the morning about 2 o'clock with labor pains. He was born 1 00:01:20.599 --> 00:01:24.245 minute before midnight. 00:01:24.278 --> 00:01:28.647 Can you tell us like about your lifestyle, you know, what you did and what 00:01:28.680 --> 00:01:35.296 your life at that time my husband was working for a farmer. 00:01:35.329 --> 00:01:41.096 So what did your average day look like? Mine, uh, well, taking care of the 00:01:41.129 --> 00:01:46.316 house, crocheting. 00:01:46.349 --> 00:01:52.305 No, that's OK. Don't worry, this will be edited in like all any. Pauses 00:01:52.338 --> 00:01:54.846 all my questions will be edited out and stuff like that so we can just 00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:58.876 have a conversation too. I know it's weird with the recording right there 00:01:58.909 --> 00:02:05.117 , but um, but I'm very curious about what the process was back then. So 00:02:05.150 --> 00:02:08.396 did you have a lot of doctor visits or where did you live exactly? Were 00:02:08.429 --> 00:02:16.429 you in a rural area or an urban area? girl? I suppose 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:23.066 56 miles from town. And would you visit the doctor in town? 00:02:23.099 --> 00:02:26.025 In a small town. 00:02:26.058 --> 00:02:30.957 Were there just like one doctor or is there one in the town? What were 00:02:30.990 --> 00:02:38.505 those visits like? Just, you know, just regular visits, yeah. So did he um 00:02:38.538 --> 00:02:41.816 walk you through what to expect or did you know what to expect from your 00:02:41.849 --> 00:02:46.146 mother, or I had no idea. 00:02:46.179 --> 00:02:54.179 The doctor explained it for me. So, um, Had you planned on having the baby 00:02:54.599 --> 00:03:01.487 in the hospital in the town? Yes, in a different town. Why is that? 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:06.196 Because there was no hospital in the town where the doctor was. So was 00:03:06.229 --> 00:03:14.229 that a long drive? No. 8 or 10 miles. Um, so when your labor pain started 00:03:14.788 --> 00:03:18.366 up, well, first of all, how was your experience of pregnancy? Were you, I 00:03:18.399 --> 00:03:22.686 felt better when I was pregnant and when I was other, any other time other 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:28.286 than being heavy in the front. Why is that? Because you got that extra 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:32.316 weight? No, I mean, why did you feel better? I don't know, I just did. 00:03:32.349 --> 00:03:38.487 Never had a sick day. All the time I was pregnant. On all three of them. 00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:44.196 That's great. Some women were just meant to have babies, yeah. 00:03:44.229 --> 00:03:49.406 So, um, OK, so then take us back to when your labor pain started up. You 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:52.396 said at 1 in the morning, 00:03:52.429 --> 00:03:59.356 you know, 1 or 2 or something like that. And you um Were with your husband 00:03:59.389 --> 00:04:04.916 and were they just um were they kind of minor at first like you could work 00:04:04.949 --> 00:04:09.475 for them they were bad at first then they kind of led up and then they 00:04:09.508 --> 00:04:12.525 said and they get lighter. 00:04:12.558 --> 00:04:16.265 So then at some point, did you call the doctor and he said go to the 00:04:16.298 --> 00:04:21.947 hospital or did you guys just decide to go? We waited a while and went. 00:04:21.980 --> 00:04:27.055 And they called the doctor after we got to the hospital. 00:04:27.088 --> 00:04:32.137 So, can you tell us about the hospital experience? 00:04:32.170 --> 00:04:39.137 They wanted to give me. Uh, gas. I refused to take it because I wanted to 00:04:39.170 --> 00:04:46.296 see that baby when I was born. Oh, that's really touching. Yeah. Um, yeah 00:04:46.329 --> 00:04:50.086 , because I know around that time they, you know, would give people gas or 00:04:50.119 --> 00:04:57.476 scoamine or ether, and women don't remember the experience at all. 00:04:57.509 --> 00:05:01.656 I would get through all of it. So each, so each with each child you 00:05:01.689 --> 00:05:09.689 refused gas. Um Um, so was it a long labor process? Well, off and on, it 00:05:11.619 --> 00:05:17.515 wasn't bad until right at the last. Did you have to push for a long time? 00:05:17.548 --> 00:05:20.926 Not too terribly long, no. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:24.986 Just the pains would be there and then they'd let up and then for a while 00:05:25.019 --> 00:05:29.666 and then they'd come back. Did you give birth on a, on your back on the 00:05:29.699 --> 00:05:34.786 bed? Did you have stirrups or anything? Yeah. What were the stirrups like 00:05:34.819 --> 00:05:39.697 ? You just put your feet in them so they're. 00:05:39.730 --> 00:05:45.046 So, um, What was, do you remember after you gave birth, did they give you 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:48.586 the baby right away, or did they? 00:05:48.619 --> 00:05:52.075 That I don't remember. 00:05:52.108 --> 00:05:55.317 Would you stay at the hospital for very long after you gave birth? Well, 00:05:55.350 --> 00:06:02.036 back then we did. How can you, um, since they're gonna edit out my, my 00:06:02.069 --> 00:06:07.276 questions, can you say things like sometimes, you know, I, I stayed a long 00:06:07.309 --> 00:06:10.515 time at the hospital or something to reference the hospital for us just so 00:06:10.548 --> 00:06:14.906 that when we're editing it won't be a problem to you 4 or 5 days I imagine 00:06:14.939 --> 00:06:22.265 , yeah. Um, did you nurse, pardon, did you nurse? I tried to, but there 00:06:22.298 --> 00:06:27.495 was nothing there for the baby. He said I was starving him. 00:06:27.528 --> 00:06:30.156 Really, we had to put him on a bottle. Was it like that with all three 00:06:30.189 --> 00:06:35.536 children? Yes. How long, how long did you try to nurse before they 00:06:35.569 --> 00:06:39.055 suggested the bottle? I don't know how long it was when the doctor told me 00:06:39.088 --> 00:06:43.015 I was starving like we had to do something. I don't remember how long it 00:06:43.048 --> 00:06:47.616 was. Do you remember at the time what the what was in the bottle? Because 00:06:47.649 --> 00:06:54.356 I know you guys didn't have formula. No, we use regular milk. And I don't 00:06:54.389 --> 00:06:57.765 remember what we put in. 00:06:57.798 --> 00:07:03.866 Of course you heat it up. 00:07:03.899 --> 00:07:08.145 That's a long time ago. 00:07:08.178 --> 00:07:14.455 I know that's why we we uh we're so happy to be talking to you, yeah. Um, 00:07:14.488 --> 00:07:19.296 OK, so then you were able to bring your child home. And what was your home 00:07:19.329 --> 00:07:24.106 life experience with your child, with the baby? 00:07:24.139 --> 00:07:30.116 Well, it's good because he wasn't a cranky baby. And then I babysit My 00:07:30.149 --> 00:07:35.507 sister-in-law's baby that was just a month younger than him. They were 00:07:35.540 --> 00:07:39.067 small enough to put them in the same crib, one of the other, and when my 00:07:39.100 --> 00:07:44.575 baby saw me picked the other one up, he didn't like that. 00:07:44.608 --> 00:07:49.007 He raised a heck of a fight. 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:52.926 They're very intuitive, aren't they? babies babies, they're, they're good 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:57.796 intuition, you know, like little people. I never even thought about it 00:07:57.829 --> 00:08:01.796 when I picked the other baby up to take care of it, you know, and he let 00:08:01.829 --> 00:08:04.687 our yell. 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:10.745 Did he sleep good sleep through the night. 00:08:10.778 --> 00:08:16.055 And the doctor gave you some medicine. And got them switched around and I 00:08:16.088 --> 00:08:22.447 never had a. Never had a fussy baby. So the medicine helped him sleep how 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:28.736 they turned around. That's good. So then, um, how long did you wait 00:08:28.769 --> 00:08:32.846 between that baby and the next one? Was it right away or was there? Uh, 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:40.879 she was born in 52 in December, so October, November, December 14 months. 00:08:42.258 --> 00:08:44.258 And that when I got up in the morning and done a big load of wash. My 00:08:49.129 --> 00:08:56.125 husband was working about 15-20 miles from town. 00:08:56.158 --> 00:09:01.946 And labor started. So I called down there where he was working and, and 00:09:01.979 --> 00:09:06.677 the lady answered the phone and she says, oh, Hazel, uh, they're in Akron 00:09:06.710 --> 00:09:12.566 and I have no idea where they're at. So 00:09:12.599 --> 00:09:16.346 Uh, I hung up but it wasn't too off for long and he come driving in 00:09:16.379 --> 00:09:22.645 because they had just drove in their yard when she hung up the phone. 00:09:22.678 --> 00:09:28.096 Wow. So as soon as they drove in, you guys went. 00:09:28.129 --> 00:09:32.417 I have everything ready. 00:09:32.450 --> 00:09:35.356 They had to do my, get my clothes off for and everything, somebody else 00:09:35.389 --> 00:09:37.976 did. I didn't. 00:09:38.009 --> 00:09:41.936 But that one didn't take us long. Was it the same doctor that delivered 00:09:41.969 --> 00:09:47.476 you? All three of them. It's nice. So he knew what you were what you were 00:09:47.509 --> 00:09:53.686 like and what you wanted. That's it. Do you remember um meeting the baby 00:09:53.719 --> 00:09:58.596 after you delivered with the second one? 00:09:58.629 --> 00:10:03.765 You're asking me to remember a long time. I know I'm terrible. I'm just 00:10:03.798 --> 00:10:07.667 curious if they put the baby in a nursery or if the baby stayed in the 00:10:07.700 --> 00:10:11.976 room with you. Oh no, all babysitter and the nurse would come in and long 00:10:12.009 --> 00:10:17.787 enough to nurse them and feed them and they take them back. And so did you 00:10:17.820 --> 00:10:21.015 look at them through the glass, or you know, did you visit him at the 00:10:21.048 --> 00:10:24.616 nursery or did they just bring him in for feeding? You, you pretty much 00:10:24.649 --> 00:10:29.157 stayed in bed and they brought, brought him in to feed him. 00:10:29.190 --> 00:10:35.717 Did you um I suffered from any like tearing or anything like that residual 00:10:35.750 --> 00:10:40.836 like recovery stuff? No, no. So you have those terrible hemorrhoids like I 00:10:40.869 --> 00:10:46.326 had no. 00:10:46.359 --> 00:10:52.135 Um, OK, so then, um, you've had 3 children, right? Yeah, so was the third 00:10:52.168 --> 00:10:55.177 one any different, or were they just, you know, that one was different 00:10:55.210 --> 00:11:00.775 because we was about 25 miles from the hospital. You dropped the other two 00:11:00.808 --> 00:11:08.537 kids off with his family, went to the hospital and delivery was on the 2nd 00:11:08.570 --> 00:11:13.177 floor. They took me out on delivery, and he went down to get a bottle of 00:11:13.210 --> 00:11:17.057 pop. He opened the pop and the doctor was there and says, you have a 00:11:17.090 --> 00:11:19.446 daughter. 00:11:19.479 --> 00:11:26.246 So he thought we'd better quit or we'd never make it in time. 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:29.936 That's the way to have a baby though, 00:11:29.969 --> 00:11:33.816 right? So you have to be in pain for too long. Did you labor at home for a 00:11:33.849 --> 00:11:37.547 long time before you went in? Not too long because they started out harder 00:11:37.580 --> 00:11:42.846 than the others did. Yeah, I, they say they speed up, you know, as you go 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:46.145 on, you have more children. 00:11:46.178 --> 00:11:49.326 No, I was never sick. 00:11:49.359 --> 00:11:53.525 When you so since you had um other children, the other children help out 00:11:53.558 --> 00:11:57.326 with the baby or anything. 00:11:57.359 --> 00:12:05.255 Um So can you think back to around the time where their birds around the 00:12:05.288 --> 00:12:12.287 same months sheep. Were they in similar like summertime or wintertime? Oh 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:18.246 , June, what's the last 1 October and December. The first one was in South 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:23.326 Dakota, so it was, so that must have been different. That was different. 00:12:23.359 --> 00:12:28.505 What was it like to have a baby in winter versus summer? Oh, I don't know 00:12:28.538 --> 00:12:33.547 , you just had to keep them more bundled up if you took them out. It's all 00:12:33.580 --> 00:12:39.976 different. So the farmhouse have good heat? Mhm. Wood, we had the 00:12:40.009 --> 00:12:43.606 potbellied stoves. 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:48.726 You had to bring the wood in and. Yeah, a lot of work to keep things hot 00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:53.047 and keep things cool back then, huh, back then that's what we used for 00:12:53.080 --> 00:12:56.125 cooking and heating. 00:12:56.158 --> 00:13:01.547 You had to bring cobs in there. Help start the fire at the kitchen range. 00:13:01.580 --> 00:13:05.976 And the second one threw them all on the floor. 00:13:06.009 --> 00:13:08.755 And make her pick them up and if you went in the other room for something 00:13:08.788 --> 00:13:13.746 , you'd come back cough all over the floor. 00:13:13.779 --> 00:13:19.476 So is that how you heated up milk on the on the in the cook on the rage, 00:13:19.509 --> 00:13:21.625 yeah. 00:13:21.658 --> 00:13:26.307 Interesting. So did you have, um, did you, you know, so did you use any of 00:13:26.340 --> 00:13:29.385 the farm animals milk? 00:13:29.418 --> 00:13:32.787 Yeah, cows. So right there on the cow, you right there on the farm, you 00:13:32.820 --> 00:13:38.106 could just milk the cow and use that for feeding the baby while you 00:13:38.139 --> 00:13:43.297 boiled it or something. I don't remember that long and we put something in. 00:13:43.330 --> 00:13:49.667 I don't remember what it was. Sorry, no, that's understandable. You know 00:13:49.700 --> 00:13:53.106 , I've said my birth story a couple times now. I forget things every time 00:13:53.139 --> 00:13:57.076 , remember new things every time. If you think of anything else, that we 00:13:57.109 --> 00:14:00.606 would be glad to get as much information as possible so we can always come 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:05.297 back. Uh Well, interesting. So is there anything else that you can think 00:14:05.330 --> 00:14:13.330 of that we didn't talk about regarding that time? 00:14:13.509 --> 00:14:18.505 OK. Actually, can you think of anything else? 00:14:18.538 --> 00:14:22.645 Let me look at my questions. 00:14:22.678 --> 00:14:27.557 We had a good babysitter and dog. 00:14:27.590 --> 00:14:32.356 Put the kids out in the yard and then he'd go to crawl under the fence and 00:14:32.389 --> 00:14:38.125 he'd grab him by the pants and pull him back. And you'd go holler for him 00:14:38.158 --> 00:14:42.677 and the dog could come to the house and then go back and get him. Bring 00:14:42.710 --> 00:14:47.446 him up to the house, the dog didn't show up. He was laying down sleeping 00:14:47.479 --> 00:14:51.246 someplace across the dog. 00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:56.645 That's good. I wish our dogs were like that, and the man came to see my 00:14:56.678 --> 00:15:00.557 husband one time and we went walking around out to the barn, and the dog 00:15:00.590 --> 00:15:04.436 was behind him and nail a wagon, and he turned around because my husband 00:15:04.469 --> 00:15:07.566 was gone. So he turned around and started to the house. The dog stopped 00:15:07.599 --> 00:15:11.326 him at the gate. He couldn't go any farther. 00:15:11.359 --> 00:15:14.385 Kids were in there, 00:15:14.418 --> 00:15:16.797 so you just possessive, 00:15:16.830 --> 00:15:19.297 yeah. So when you brought the babies home, did you introduce them to the 00:15:19.330 --> 00:15:22.936 dogs at all or the dog? 00:15:22.969 --> 00:15:30.326 00. No, I can't remember really introducing them to him. 00:15:30.359 --> 00:15:37.236 He he took, she took care of it. What kind of dog? 00:15:37.269 --> 00:15:45.037 German shepherd. Wow, those are very smart dogs. Is she sure was. And I 00:15:45.070 --> 00:15:50.106 picked the boy up one day to spank him for some reason, and fortunately, 00:15:50.139 --> 00:15:56.057 we had her tied up, otherwise she come out after me. She was protecting 00:15:56.090 --> 00:16:03.706 that boy. Is that that boy right there? No, that's my second husband. Oh, 00:16:03.739 --> 00:16:11.739 I missed 50 years by 6 weeks. Wow. He didn't quite make it. 00:16:13.048 --> 00:16:17.206 Yeah, that's a tough thing with, you know, having a long full life 00:16:17.239 --> 00:16:22.255 sometimes. some good ones on the way. 00:16:22.288 --> 00:16:26.217 Let's see. Did it, was there anything that surprised you about the process 00:16:26.250 --> 00:16:29.667 of having children since you weren't really knowledgeable before you 00:16:29.700 --> 00:16:35.686 started? Other than. Be surprised that I got pregnant. 00:16:35.719 --> 00:16:40.407 Were you, did you have um sisters or brothers? I had one of both older 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:45.157 sister, a younger brother. Did you see his birth when you were a kid? I 00:16:45.190 --> 00:16:48.616 was 6, but no. 00:16:48.649 --> 00:16:54.057 My sister was the oldest and I was, I don't know, somewhere else when she 00:16:54.090 --> 00:16:57.057 had him, so. 00:16:57.090 --> 00:17:00.726 He that dark brought him. 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:04.555 I wish, right? 00:17:04.588 --> 00:17:08.314 All right, let's see. 00:17:08.347 --> 00:17:14.406 I think we're pretty good, um. Those things I gave you, you won't be 00:17:14.439 --> 00:17:18.166 interested in at all. That's just about me. You don't. No, I'm very 00:17:18.199 --> 00:17:24.075 interested. Please can I keep it? I'm very interested in it. 00:17:24.108 --> 00:17:28.765 Yeah, I'm absolutely interested in it. I was reading some of it um before 00:17:28.798 --> 00:17:32.377 we started, I think it's fascinating. 00:17:32.410 --> 00:17:39.736 OK, well, I think it's fudge time. So I think we'll go ahead and hit stop 00:17:39.769 --> 00:17:42.170 on the recorder.