Call the Midwife is back!

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

This Sunday (17th) at 8pm on BBC1.

I enjoyed the Christmas special - it was good to see Delia back, and I think there's going to be a nice romance with Tom and Barbara

The - it looks like we are going to get a thalidomide story.

The musings give it a certain ambience and character.

I am so glad that neither Jenny nor Chummy are in it - both used to ruin it for me.

I like the musings, Timothy and Chummy!

I agree Jenny was annoying though

I miss chummy! It was her scenes that used to make me cry the most! Like when she nearly died!

I felt Chummys character was very true to the character in the books and the episode where her mum died was brilliantly done.

Oh yes that storyline was amazing. Seriously CTM is the BBC at its best.

I agree, when you are spotting the plot in the first five minutes it's all getting a bit ..... Casualty.

To be honest, the fantastic period detail is a big part of the appeal for me.

Would they not have called an ambulance out to Roseanne when they weren't able to get to her in time by bike?

I don't think it was obvious how fast the labour was progressing until she started pushing, by which time it was too late for an ambulance. And I also got the impression that she might have been late phoning the midwives because she was in denial. We saw her looking all groomed as her waters broke, and then really dishevelled on the phone.

I thought that - I was shouting "Hang up, phone an ambulance!" but perhaps she didn't have time to think of that, or she thought it wouldn't come in time, or she just didn't want to leave the woman alone even for a minute.

Good points.
I remember on Life on Mars, set in the 70s, it seemed that ambulance staff were more of a taxi service than people who provided medical help like they do now, so maybe it would have taken too long anyway.

Yes, weren't ambulance drivers were just that until fairly recently, with a bit of first aid/ CPR thrown on. I think paramedics as a profession, to provide ongoing treatment etc in an ambulance - only came in in the 1980s or so, must have been by 1989, because it was my "what I'm going to do if I don't go to university" thing, s d I left school in 1989.

Yes that's true, actually, because they normally call the doctor for an urgent medical emergency, not an ambulance.

She said she'd be five minutes by car didn't she? So I presume she was closer than any ambulance would be.

The car broke down though didn't it, so she had to cycle.

Yes - I meant if she was only 5 mins away by car, perhaps she was so close she'd still be faster cycling than an ambulance coming from further away.

There was the obstetric flying squad that the midwives and doctors could call if they needed out of hospital help, which comprised of a doctor, a nurse and an ambulance driver (back in day when they were ambulance drivers and not technicians/paramedics - take not, Jeremy Hunt, if you reading).

Ambulances then really were just transport to hospital with the drivers having some very basic training.

www.e-mjm.org/2000/v55n2/Obstetric_Flying_Squad.pdf

I'm watching it all from the beginning again (got the DVDs)

I have noticed that they don't mention the enemas any more. Did they stop doing them in the 60's then?

Why did the do then in the first place?

I'm pretty sure enemas were routine way past the 60s.

I think it served two purposes: to stop the woman from pooing during the pushing stage, and to augment the labour.

There was a midwife on one of the early series of OBEM who said that she remembers the enema days and she used to think it was a useful thing for some women and sometimes she wished they still used them!

I was given an enema in 1980 - it was the worst part of the whole thing.

Ah thank you.

Tmi warning but despite me having a big clear out before birth of dc1 I pooed during labour with both kids.

I distinctly remember being wiped during labour of dc2 but was in so much pain I did not care!

Not sure I would want an enema though. I think you lose so much dignity during labour that a bit off faeces is the least of your worries

I really preferred having an enema first, felt it gave me one thing less to worry about when pushing!

I remember my friend telling me she was given an enema in 1991. I wasn't in 1993.

My grandad was an ambulance driver. He was just that, a driver of ambulances. He retired over twenty years ago.

And at the risk of completely outing myself, he also drove herses.

I always wonder if he drove the same person twice......

are we all getting ready for tonights CTM