Review prompts memories

Robbie Cheadle, a writing colleague I "met" through Goodreads commented recently on how interesting it was to read about how pregnant ladies had to behave in late Victorian times. She was reviewing "Imagining Violet Married".

There were very strict societal rules at that time and ladies simply did not appear in public in 1899 after the second trimester. It started me thinking about how things had changed -- or hadn't -- by the more liberal 1960s.

In 1968, I was working at a large private TV station in Toronto as a program organizer on a game show. The women in the next office were producing an afternoon talk show, the "Carole Taylor Show". And yes, that's the same Carole Taylor who later in life was BC's Minister of Finance. Carole's program organizer was pregnant, and at about her 7th month, she was told in no uncertain terms that she should no longer come to work. To her utter astonishment, she was told that the presence of a visibly pregnant woman was not acceptable in a TV studio. We were shocked and furious.

Two years later I had another TV gig as production assistant on a debate show called "Under Attack". My producer, the late John Kastner, was more open-minded and when I became visibly pregnant there were no repercussions. My first baby was due 3 weeks after our production ended so I didn't foresee a problem. Our last taping session was in Ottawa on Wednesday the 25th of February and our guest was Pierre Elliott Trudeau! I had to get permission from my doctor to fly to Ottawa that week, but otherwise, no problem. Trudeaumania was in full force and it was exciting to meet the man close up, albeit shrouded as I was in a tent-like dress. We pregnant ladies were still making some effort to hide our bulk. We taped the show on Wednesday night and flew back to Toronto on Thursday morning. Friday was to be our last day, our post-production clean-up day.

But I didn't make it. Overnight Thursday night I had cramps, then severe cramps. Thinking it was false labour I phoned the office around 8.30 and said I'd be late for work. But I never did get to the office that day and was lucky to get to the hospital in time. My first born arrived at 11:02 Friday morning.