First-person stories of childbirth from our grandmothers' era.

We hear stories of overworked midwives and short-staffed hospitals, however childbirth has never been easier.

Our grandmothers gave birth when there were no washing machines, few hot water boilers and heating came from coal carried from the backyard.

Quick Boil Some Water lets women who gave birth during the war, the period immediately afterwards, the 1950s and the '60s, tell their own stories. Many women begin with, "I've never told anyone this."

Just like today, magazines were a powerful influence. Young mothers were advised to look good by using their lace curtains to make a dainty little brassiere and to rub away leg hair with a pumice stone.