The social stigma faced by unmarried mothers in the 1970s is among the stories on giving birth being collected for a special project.
These accounts, alongside other personal experiences of childbirth in Worcestershire, form part of a wider oral history project led by the University of Worcester.
Over the past 18 months, researchers have gathered 70 first-hand accounts dating from the early 1960s to the 2020s.
Dr Anna Muggeridge, lecturer in history and project lead, said: “We’ve now had people come forward from the more recent past, which has been great, including quite a lot of stories from Covid and the post-Covid era really bringing the history up to date.
“You can see some of the wider general trends in history taking place across the country and changes in the wider social and cultural history of birth.”
The project, Birthing Stories, is being run in collaboration with the George Marshall Medical Museum.
It is part of the larger ‘Voices of Motherhood’ study, which explores how women have been politicised by their experiences of fertility, pregnancy, birth, and early childhood care from 1914 to the present day.
Dr Muggeridge said: “These stories really talk about how difficult the experience of being pregnant in Covid was, even if you had a pregnancy that wasn’t high risk and everything was proceeding as you would expect.
“People remember the real stress and strain that that put them under.
“It’s really important that we capture those stories so that if we do end up in another pandemic situation, we can learn from this experience and not expect women to have to go through that again.”
Stories also recall local history, such as patients’ memories of Shrub Hill Maternity Hospital, which closed in the late 20th century.
The oral history project will be housed at the George Marshall Medical Museum.
Researchers are still hoping to hear from someone who gave birth in the 1950s.
The University of Worcester team is hosting a drop-in event at The Hive on Thursday, October 15 from 6.30pm to 8pm to share findings and invite further contributions.
