Kate Chopin's first child was born on May 22, 1871. Twenty-three years after the birth of her first son, Kate Chopin wrote the following account of her childbirth experience:
I can remember yet that hot southern day on Magazine Street in New Orleans. The noises of the street coming through the open windows, that heaviness with which I dragged myself about; my husband's and mother's solicitude; old Alexandrine the quadroon nurse with her high bandana tignon, her hoop-earrings and placid smile; old Dr. Faget; the smell of chloroform, and then waking at 6 in the evening from out of a stupor to see in my mother’s arms a little piece of humanity all dressed in white; which they told me was my little son! The sensation with which I touched my lips
I can remember yet that hot southern day on Magazine Street in New Orleans. The noises of the street coming through the open windows, that heaviness with which I dragged myself about; my husband's and mother's solicitude; old Alexandrine the quadroon nurse with her high bandana tignon, her hoop-earrings and placid smile; old Dr. Faget; the smell of chloroform, and then waking at 6 in the evening from out of a stupor to see in my mother’s arms a little piece of humanity all dressed in white; which they told me was my little son! The sensation with which I touched my lips