My Mother's Tale by Ann Wuehler

My mother told me she begged for death on the second day of labour. The doctor would not perform a C-section. He reasoned birth was natural. Women should deliver as naturally as possible.

This was a Catholic hospital in the late 1960’s.

She struggled, bled—she screamed. My mother pleaded for the agony to end.

At last, the blade cut through her belly. Gore gushed. Hands tore me out of her. I was barely alive.

She received stitches, the local anaesthesia wearing off.

I remained for six weeks in the hospital. She had to go fix meals for my father.