Phyllis (Weaver) Bickley

Ancestors

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Bob Weaver [send private message] and Phyllis Bickley [send private message]

Biography

I was born 29 July 1942 at West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital of Camden, N.J., weighing in at 6 lb. 10 oz, the second child of George Weaver and Mabel Marsh.

Doctors were in short supply because of the War effort, which meant my mother's obstetrician was on military reserve duty when she went into labor. Fortunately, his father was a retired obstetrician who was able to cover. Unfortunately, no one was available to administer anesthesia resulting in an unplanned last minute natural childbirth. The total bill from the doctor was about $50 including delivery and all pre- and post-natal visits.

The normal post-partum stay at this time was 10 days as follows: bed rest with no pillow allowed for the first two days; day 5 the new mother could sit up; day 9 she could stand up - if she could stand up without becoming very weak and light-headed, not to mention all the abdominal discomfort and bloating as a result of all that inactivity. How did women every survive it?

I was brought home to our brick row house at 100 Curtis Avenue, Collingswood, NJ. which was an end unit with railroad tracks running along the side street. My mother relates this story: When I was old enough to pull myself up to a standing position in the crib, I would awaken in the middle of the night, every night, crying hysterically before she could even hear the train so she would hurry to comfort me. I would keep this up until the train went by, then I would stop crying, lay back down in the bed and go back to sleep.

Just before my younger brother was born in Sept 1944 we moved to 41 North Lecato Avenue in Audubon, one block off the White Horse Pike and NO train lines nearby. The house had a small back porch with a few rotted boards. Before my Dad could replace them, they gave way when my Mom was walking across the porch to hang laundry to dry in the back yard. One of her legs went down through the floor while the other leg went straight out in front of her, and she was hurting. My older brother and I were in the yard playing and heard her yelling for help. With out help she managed to pull herself up enough to get her leg out of the hole in the porch. Other than scrapes and bruises to her leg, Mom was okay, and my brother was born the very next day.

Previous owners had converted a few rooms into a small apartment.

Sources

• First-hand information. Entered by Phyllis Weaver at registration.

• First-hand information as remembered by Bob Weaver, Friday, March 7, 2014.

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