What was going on when I was born?

''Once we went down toward that operating room, I was relieved because I felt that my husband was fading away from me, and now I feel I have him back again and that I have another chance.'' - Margaret Schroeder. (A1:1.)

President Reagan tentatively decided today to freeze overall spending in the 1986 budget at the current level, according to Administration officials. The officials said that under the overall freeze many programs, especially nonmilitary domestic programs, would have to be cut or even eliminated so other programs whose budgets Mr. Reagan does not want to freeze could expand. The President has said he will not reduce benefits in Social Security, whose costs will grow as more people become eligible. And even if he accepts a slowdown in the rise in the military budget, such spending would still rise somewhat in 1986. A decision to maintain current total spending levels thus would mean cuts of about $45 billion in areas outside such programs as Social Security and the military, said the officials, who spoke on condition they not be identified.

A Time magazine correspondent testified yesterday that a key part of a disputed article about Ariel Sharon was based on ''my evaluation - my analysis.'' The correspondent, David Halevy, conceded that his sources for the article had not given him the specific contents of the secret appendix of an Israeli report. His testimony focused on a major issue in Mr. Sharon's libel case against Time in Federal District Court in Manhattan. In the article, which brought on the libel case, Time said that Mr. Sharon had discussed revenge with Phalangists shortly before their massacre of Palestinians in Lebanon and that the discussion was mentioned in the secret Appendix B of the official Israeli report on the massacre.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1984 International The discharge of a Salvadoran officer accused of organizing the 1981 murders of two United States labor advisers and the head of the country's land redistribution program has been ordered, according to a close aide of President Jose Napoleon Duarte. Mr. Duarte ordered the discharge to be immediate and without pension. It is believed to be the first time a Salvadoran army officer accused of human rights violations has been dismissed. (Page A1, Column 3.) 770 Poles have jumped ship this year from the ferry Rogalin in ports in West Germany, the only Western door still ajar for Poles. Some of the Poles call it a flight from economic misery, corruption, political oppression and fear. (A3:1-3.)

A state judge today barred new commercial connections to the aged sewer system that serves Boston and 42 other cities and towns, dumping tons of raw sewage into the harbor. The order by Judge Paul Garrity of the Superior Court permits new housing connections but effectively calls a halt to a commercial building boom that is proceeding at a rate of $500 million a year. The order's force extends through most of the Boston metropolitan area, which has a population of 2.5 million. The ruling came almost two years after City Attorney William B. Golden of Quincy, on a morning run, was revolted by a tide of human waste along the beach of Boston Harbor and later filed suit on behalf of the city.

Ten days after issuing a brief statement that appeared to clear Harry J. Gray, chairman of the United Technologies Corporation, of allegations that he electronically bugged the conversations of other senior executives, directors of the company are preparing a report on other charges against Mr. Gray. The investigation was discussed by Mr. Gray himself, who said that a special committee of the United Technologies board had been presented with at least 20 allegations of improper or criminal conduct. ''There isn't a shred of truth to any one of them, and I have denied every one,'' Mr. Gray said. Terming the charges against him ''ludicrous,'' he nonetheless said they were serious.

THERE is a rehearsal going on at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Lepercq Space. Ten dancers rock and crawl like delicate beasts, tenderly exalted by the Vivaldi ''Gloria,'' to which they move. Minuscule beneath the high ceiling, the dancers ebb to the sides, leaving a void filled with light. There is a crash as the choreographer hurtles onto the stage for a solo, his long, curly hair flying and one hand reaching to tug an earring. A startled member of the stage crew jumps. Affectionate laughter bubbles from the wings. Mark Morris has returned. ''Mark Morris: The Next of the Major Moderns?'' a dance magazine trumpeted recently on its cover. Mr. Morris, a 28-year- old choreographer now based in his hometown of Seattle, first engaged New York audiences in 1980, when he showed his dances in one of the city's downtown studio spaces. This weekend, he and his dancers are performing in the Brooklyn Academy's prestigious Next Wave Festival - recognition of the fact that Mr. Morris is now considered one of the most gifted choreographers of his era.

The Economy The index of leading indicators fell 0.7 percent in October, its third decline in five months. Most analysts, however, said they thought the economy would soon resume its expansion after the recent sharp slowdown, rather than sink into recession. (Page D1.) Major retailers' sales were sluggish in November , although some chains that started heavy promotions saw sales pick up after Thanksgiving. Sears's sales rose 3.1 percent, K Mart posted a 16.7 percent increase and Penney gained 5.7 percent. (D1.)

To make a movie about suburban life, the film makers left the suburbs and came here. For film makers, at least, the suburbs are apparently too much like the city - frenetic and noisy. Planes fly overhead too frequently, and garbage trucks rumble past too often. That spoils the sound track.

Dispatches from Boston on Sept. 20 and Oct. 30 about the Massachusetts Senate campaign misstated the role of John F. Kerry, now a Senator- elect, in Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He was a leader and spokesman of the organization in the early 1970's, but he was not a founder. The group was formed in 1967.

A leading figure in British contemporary music, John McCabe, is in town wearing two hats - composer and pianist. His ''Rainforest,'' commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, will receive its premiere performances at Tully Hall tonight at 8 and Sunday at 5 P.M. And, in the same concerts, he will join Joseph Swensen in Mozart's piano and violin sonata in A (K.525). Performers of ''Rainforest'' will include the Emerson String Quartet and Charles Wadsworth, piano; Leslie Parnas, cello; Paula Robison, flute; Gervase de Peyer, clarinet, and Richard Fitz, glockenspiel. Also on the program are two Bach preludes and fugues arranged by Peter Maxwell Davies for flute, clarinet, viola, cello, marimba and harpsichord. Tickets: $15. To charge: 874- 6770. 53 PRIZE FILM AT THE MODERN

Governor Cuomo today asked the Legislature to extend for another two years a corporate tax surcharge that subsidizes subways, buses and commuter railroads in the metropolitan region. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has said that extending the tax would allow it to maintain the 90-cent subway and bus fare and current commuter railroad fares through the end of 1985. To Expire Next MonthWith the 17 percent surcharge due to expire at the end of this year, transit officials, legislators and business lobbyists have been awaiting the Governor's plan for providing the M.T.A. with the $280 million a year that the surcharge now produces. Mr. Cuomo presented his proposal to legislative leaders at a meeting here this morning. Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink, Democrat of Brooklyn, and Senator Manfred Ohrenstein of Manhattan, leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, said they supported extension of the surcharge.