Call the Midwife, I love Sunday night telly!!

[BrightnessFalls]

well, I will do for the next six weeks

So they induced her baby then she went in to multiple organ failure?

so if they had identified the pre-eclampsia sooner, it wouldn't have made a difference? One of the midwives said not but I wasn't sure if she was just trying to make Cynthia feel better.

Presumably she'd have been put on bed rest.

There was no way of managing pre-eclmpsia/eclampsia then. I've read accounts of hospital wards being full of eclamptic, fitting women 60 years ago (it still has a 40% mortality rate). The only treatment is delivery of the baby and in that time they had little if any access to drugs to induce labour and cesareans were far riskier then. Also, back then the age of viability for a fetus was 28 weeks, so there really was nothing they could have done. If they'd detected it only a day before she became eclamptic it may have only changed the setting of where she had the fit, sadly.

So moving this week.

I have a lovely friend who very nearly died due to a full eclamptic fit. Her son was nearly lost too.

She's never had a second child due to this experience.

Her bp would have been elevated the day before and that would have been picked up so they might have been able to help her.

Ok, it's been a few years since I read the book, but this kidnapping story didn't really happen, did it? (Or us my memory getting worse?) Dont remember the violinist story either- are they using dramatic license to pad out the series now?

I think Mary did steal a baby but not then or locally.

I think I remember the eclampsia story.

In the book Jenny said she read in the newspaper that Mary was arrested for kidnapping a baby outside of a shop. Jenny didn't play a part in finding the baby with Mary. Think that's right,been a while since I read the books.

Joan, the only 'help' they could offer was bedrest, which isn't effective. It would not have changed the outcome.

Wikipedia says they were using magnesium sulphate to treat eclampsia before 1955.

Magnesium sulpate is used in the short term (it has some frightening side effects) to prevent fitting long enough for drugs to mature the babies lungs to take effect (these weren't availible in the 50's). Delaying fits is not going to be of particular value at 27 weeks at that time.

I'm not sure that's the only reason for using the magnesium sulphate as my friends were given it post term.

Understanding how serious pre-eclampsia can be is so important. How many posts have you seen on here from pregnant women with a bit of a headache and oh yes their ankles and hands are really swollen but they don't want to bother the midwife.....I've certainly seen several. Nobody wants pregnant women to be frightened but we should all know what are potential red flags.

To stop them fitting?

I think in the book she had the fit in hospital, too. But I can't remember. I certainly remember the description being horrific and upsetting.

oh bugger

I knew I shouldn't have watched this this morning.
Incredibly sad.

bint, Mary did steal a baby, from Manchester out of a pram and was caught a fortnight later trying to board a boat to Ireland. She was jailed aged 21. The defence pointed out she was desperately unwell and the baby had been well cared for. Jenny did only read about it in the paper.

And yes the eclampsia story was in the book though very slightly different but in essentials is the same.

I also like the added bit about Jack in the book. He became a v keen cyclist and later Diana Spencer's bodyguard.

My MIL had very sudden and severe onset pre-eclampsia in 1982 when pg with dh. She had just tipped over to eclampsia when they put her under for the crash cs. Only warning sign was that she couldn't get her wellies on due to swelling. Routine mw appointment later that day and she was rushed to St Thomas. FIL was warned they didn't expect to save both of them, probably neither of them. They both survived though dh was small and v poorly. Born with an apgar of 0 and then 3 at 5 minutes.

Crap, my memory. Must be due a re-read!

The eclampsia story in the book is a reference back to an experience Jenny had in the hospital she worked before going to the nuns. It is told in the context of a pre-eclampsia patient in the clinic who ends up in hospital on bed rest and I think is ok, as is her baby. The details of the eclampsia story are similar to those in the book but they have just changed the setting and made it an experience of the other midwife.

an APGAR of 0?

Glad he made it!

I guess the eclampsia story of Margaret provides much more drama than the one Jennifer dealt with herself, Sally, where they caught it at the pre-eclampsia stage.

In the book, David found Margaret unconscious on the bedroom floor, with her face covered in blood. There was no public fitting in the car. Although there were frequent violent convulsions while she was in her hospital bed, she wasn't just lying there peacefully as they showed on tv.

Sally and her baby survived.

Off topic a bit, but I have started reading the book after watching the first couple of episodes. I am just reading the story of Mrs Jenkins now - she is an old lady by the 50s and the book tells the story of her time in a workhouse. I am finding it one of the most upsetting things I have ever read, mainly the bit about separating the women from their children (that's as far as I have got - no doubt it gets worse). The inhumanity of it though is unbelievable. Regardless of the general unpleasantness of the workhouses, couldn't they have kept mothers and children together, or at the very least let them see each other every day or sleep together at night? God, it's depressing.

yes. It is unspeakably awful.

It's hard to believe it's all so recent too. These people were the same generation as our parents and grandparents.

There used to be an old lady who pushed a pram full of dolls around town. She came into the cafe where I worked a few times and always had a kind of haunted look behind her eyes. I'm certain there was some sad story behind that, although I never found out what and I haven't seen her for a few years now. I thought of her when I first read about Mrs Jenkins.

I've been researching my family tree over the last couple of years and found lots and lots of separate instances of my Grandma's Dad and his siblings being sent to workhouse for a few months. It didn't make sense until I found the records of all of the separate instances of their Dad ending up in debtors prison and the dates perfectly matched. Their Mum during these times can be traced into domestic service, occasionally having the baby/youngest with her. They would be reunited for a while and then the same old story. I just can't imagine what it was like for them.