Like Catherine, the love interest in A Farewell to Arms, I recently experienced stalled labor, resulting in a C-section. I wrote this email to Heavy Bored host Andrew Wittstadt the other day.
Hi Andrew,
Thought you might like an update. When we discussed [Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms], I was pretty unworried about pregnancy and labor complications. But I ended up having serious complications at the end of my pregnancy and actually needed a C-section. Not only that, but I had a bleed on the operating table! But luckily it’s not 1917. One thing that they do differently now though, is that even though a C-section is a major surgery, they keep you awake so you can experience the birth of your child. But that also means if things go wrong, you are lying there listening to them talk about an arterial bleed and calling for back up and discussing whether or not to perform a historectomy. Pretty scary stuff, but modern medicine is amazing.
The baby was healthy and perfect from the beginning, but I’ve had a bit of a recovery. I have some conditions they are still monitoring.
I’ve attached a photo I took while writing this.
–Valerie
If you haven’t listened yet, Andrew and I discussed Hemingway’s legacy, anti-war literature, and reading A Farewell to Arms while pregnant.
Narrative with Valerie Lute 