which is the most likely scenario?

[Bee]

My father in law and his brother and sisters where put in a children's home  in about 1934 because his mother (Laura) was in hospital and his father couldn't cope with 4 kids between the ages of 9 & 2.

Two stories have emerged but which is the most likely?

STORY 1:  Laura was in hospital having another baby but a nurse dropped the baby and it had died, Laura developed milk fever which sent her doo lally so she was put in a mental hospital.

STORY2:  Laura contracted polio, this is the most obvious but I remember Laura as a very active woman who never seemed to ail anything and died in 1985 at the age of 90.

I do know that my father in law left the home at the age of 14 but I don't know about the rest of the family, and there's no one left to ask.                                           

Sorry it's a bit long winded but I'd appreciated anyone's thoughts.

Bee

[lindagene]

Hi Bee,  was it commom for women to go into hospital to have children in that era?  I always thought that most were born at home with the help of either a midwife, or simply local ladies, friends or relations.
Somehow the idea of a nurse dropping a baby seems a little far fetched, not impossible I am sure, but unlikely.
No I definately prefer my first thought.
Lindy

[Hackstaple]

I was born in 1934 and in a nursing home and my parents were not especially well off although my father had a respectable job.
The main Churches, both Anglican and Catholic, ran nursing homes for childbirth through convents - yes, there were, and are, Anglican convents. I suspect that one made arrangements well in advance and some payment changed hands but many of these convents were self-supporting as the girl orphans did laundry as a commercial venture for the convent.- Good Shepherd Homes being a case in point.