To think Call the Midwife is too depressing

[jewelledsky]

for a Sunday night and to almost be tempted by Top Gear as a light viewing alternative? Where is Downton Abbey?

[AmberLeaf]

No it isn't bollocks or an urban myth.

I didn't say or think that it meant there was an ambulance on stand by at the end of your rd!

That is what the midwife called it, I assume it meant that 'they' would be aware of a homebirth happening should the need for transportation arise.

I know that the old style 'flying squad' of obstetrician etc coming to your home is no more, maybe it is just a term that was still used?

In the event my friend was taken in due to shoulder dystocia and a very large baby. As far as I know it was a regular ambulance and paramedics and the two midwives who were at her home already.

But that was definitely what the midwife referred to it as.

[LaVolcan]

I am sure that the old flying squads got disbanded sometime in the 1980s.

I think it varies from locality to locality as to what sort of back up the ambulance service provides these days. I think in some areas the midwives can say they need an ambulance and one will be sent, but in others they have to go through the same procedure as an ordinary member of the general public would. No first hand experience of this - just what I have read.

[AmberLeaf]

Yes I think the traditional styled flying squads went out ages ago.

[mrsjay]

I know im late but I just watched Sundays this afternoon the tears just kept falling I didnt even get any warning what a moving episode
I really think CTM is the best thing the BBC has produced in years, I was gripped today and felt drained after watching it poor sister Bernadette

[landrover]

I was highly amused a couple of episodes back when jenny was working in the hospital. A man in a hospital bed was told off for smoking! " you know you are only allowed to smoke during visiting hours!" Ash tray sat on his table, soo amazing how things were!

[SarfEasticated]

I loved the uniforms in that episode too. Norman Hartnell. My nurses dressing up set looked a bit like that when I was little.
I really want Sister Bernadette to survive and marry the doctor.

[stubbornstains]

I guess obstetric flying squads really aren't needed any more now that we have fast ambulances and midwives in cars! I just loved the idea, and the name....

By the way, a radical hippy friend of mine did have an ambulance sat outside her house during the whole of her labour....with twins. (There was also a gap of an hour between the 2 births, which apparently is a complete no-no, and her partner spent most of that period comforting the midwife! Mother and both babies were absolutely fine, thankfully).

[BoffinMum]

We had to put the hospital on alert when I had DC4, as I have been on a lot of opiates during the pregnancy, and there was a risk of depressed respiration in the newborn, which would have required medication pretty urgently. Otherwise I think the feeling is generally that it's better to transfer someone rapidly in the care of paramedics than attempt to faff about with obstetric procedures at home without the proper equipment, etc.

[SarfEasticated]

A fabulous episode yesterday.

[LadyApricot]

Loved every episode so far and last nights was fantastic. Have not watched an episode without crying yet though!

[devilsice123]

which book is it in?

[Theboodythatrocked]

Oh ouch can't stand it.

Angry fannies are not how I want to relax on a Sunday night. My own and seeing them in a past nursing career was enough.

Cuppa and country file for me.

[TheFecklessFairy]

I'm surprised none of you mentioned the Child Migrant Programme in Sunday's episode - now that WAS scandalous.

[gotthemoononastick]

The Norman Hartnell uniforms are still worn with pride in some African state hospitals.

The nursing ethos is the same there as well.

All against great odds.

[BeyondDoesBootcamp]

Its an old thread...

[Babycham1979]

Depressing, twee, trite, misty-eyed, nonsensical nostalgia. Televisual shite.

[SomeSortOfDeliciousBiscuit]

Well, it is ON the television, so of course it is televisual.

[rumbleinthrjungle]

Love it. Although the worthy social messaging the BBC manages to stuff in can grate a bit sometimes - yesterday's bit about the older nurse who grew up in the East End defying the 1950s belief in bottles/science is best for supporting breast feeding was interesting, but an 11 year old boy explaining loudly to parents about the merits of breast feeding over bottle feeding was a bit stretched. DF commented if he'd said the word 'breast' out loud in his family home at that age in the 50s he'd have got a thick ear, never mind knowing anything about feeding a baby.