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Call The Midwife

964 replies

Homethroughthepuddles · 26/12/2018 11:51

Surprised there's no thread on this. Did anyone watch it last night or has the series reached its natural end and is no longer attracting viewers?

OP posts:
LIZS · 20/01/2019 20:47

Another sad one Sad

AppleKatie · 20/01/2019 21:15

I cried tonight 🙈

The family with sickle cell were just so lovely. They didn’t really say what the treatment was does anyone know?

The old lady was like a cross between my two grandmothers very sad.

LIZS · 20/01/2019 21:17

There's an older series on Drama atm if anyone is interested.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 20/01/2019 21:18

I really enjoyed tonight’s episode. Especially liked the old lady wearing suffragette colours. Nice touch.

jessstan2 · 20/01/2019 21:26

I loved tonight's episode but it really did tug at the heartstrings and only one baby was born! That dear lady, Clarice, how delightful of her to leave that little girl, Maureen, so much money! Lucille has such a kind manner and am loving Sister Hilda.

I cried about Joel and Matthew having sickle but with care they may keep the episodes under control. Gorgeous children.

MissEliza · 20/01/2019 21:56

I really enjoyed this episode although the storyline with Annette Crosbie was a bit similar to one with Jessica Raine in series 1. Nevertheless it was great for them to discuss suffragettes. I was watching it with dd (10). It's always good for girls to be reminded they didn't always have equal rights.
The family with sickle cell was heartbreaking. I doubt the prognosis was very good in the 60s.

carries · 20/01/2019 22:14

Really enjoyed tonight’s episode. Interesting and moving. This series is so far, better than last series.

Friendupset · 20/01/2019 22:24

My granny delivered twins in 1965, only midwives were an eighteen-twenty ish year old student nurse and an elderly nun who slept the whole time in the corner — drunk— . One of the twins was breech as far as I remember - gran said the young lass delivered both babies absolutely fine. No one had any idea at all .

Girliefriendlikesflowers · 20/01/2019 22:51

Only just found this thread!

Am loving the series so far, I reckon the producers listened to our comments on the old thread 😉

My mum said she wasn't scanned when pregnant with me or my brother 1978 and 1980 but was for my youngest brother in 1983.

My uncle was one of twins born in the mid 1950s at home, his twin brother died at birth due to complications with the cord. The baby was taken away and my grandma told to be grateful for having one alive baby. She never recovered from it 😢

ChesterGreySideboard · 20/01/2019 22:52

She got her will written up sharpish didn’t she.

ChesterGreySideboard · 20/01/2019 22:53

I guessed sickle cell early on.
For some reason I remember a lot of public awareness of it in the 80s.

ChristineBaskets · 20/01/2019 22:55

I don't think I would want a keepsake from a woman who shoved her newspaper-wrapped turds up the chimney 😆

tazzle22 · 21/01/2019 02:29

At ..the memories of ten Bob notes ! (50p). That girl got a fortune by the looks of it lol. I though thruppence (1p) was a lot at that age to buy sweets or mags or entrance to the skating rink.

Oh and the fashionable tank tops Grin and dressed the kids wore. Hand knitted cardies !

A condition related last series I remember very well as I was being conceived when thalidomide was still being prescribed for morning sickness. My friend at school was affected mostly in her arms...she called them flippers. She loved pink and I envied her her beautiful dresses out of school. I was jealous of her then ... but that's the way we thought about it in our innocence.

Not much advancement in sickle cell anaemia compared to so many other conditions. Stem cell treatment carries significant risks so the person affected has to be really sick indeed to make the risks worthwhile.

Looking forward to the rest of the series.

drspouse · 21/01/2019 08:06

Yes I felt a bit sad when they said "treatments are getting better all the time". Really, they haven't.

user1457017537 · 21/01/2019 08:09

Are there new writers it’s getting a bit preachy.

drspouse · 21/01/2019 08:17

There have always been social issues in the storylines, if that's what you mean by "preachy". Indeed they are part of the original books.

lazymum99 · 21/01/2019 08:42

50 years later and there is still no cure or even much treatment for sickle cell anaemia. It is an awful condition.
I was scanned at 7 weeks in early 90s but privately. Remember having to drink a lot of water so they could see.

WhentheRabbitsWentWild · 21/01/2019 09:08

My Mum, pregnant 64/65, had an X Ray .
Obviously this would not be done now but nothing was wrong with me . Though that is open to debate Grin .

Woofsaidtheladybird · 21/01/2019 09:22

My brothers were born in 1968, identical twins. No one had a clue. Mum even had an episiotomy and they began to prep for stitching and she said she needed to push and they told her not to be so silly and then baby number 2 was crowning. He had to go to another hospital as they only had one incubator. 5 weeks early. The one pic I have seen of my mum was that she was HUGE. Classic stories and tales followed, mostly of my dad being accused of lying to everyone that they'd had twins and that he was having them all on!

ppeatfruit · 21/01/2019 10:30

Re. Sickle Cell, I remember reading somewhere that it can be helped\cured by not having dairy products. A large number of Africans cannot digest dairy.

jessstan2 · 21/01/2019 10:51

Plus there are root vegetables which are very good for sickle cell, therapeutic because there is no cure but crises can be reduced and pain kept under control. Nowadays two people planning on having a baby are screened, if both have the trait, conceiving a child is generally a no no but if one person does they are OK.

drspouse · 21/01/2019 11:02

I remember reading somewhere that it can be helped\cured by not having dairy products.
I somehow doubt that.
Not being able to digest lactose is totally unrelated to sickle cell. Sure, if you can't digest lactose, then you can avoid dairy or have low- or lactose-free dairy but that's a stomach enzyme and has nothing to do with a blood disorder.

ppeatfruit · 21/01/2019 11:05

It's all connected dr We are what we eat.

drspouse · 21/01/2019 11:28

I think I'm going to need something a bit more medical than that to convince me.
Also, children with sickle cell need really good nutrition - cutting out whole food groups isn't a great way to do that for kids.

ChristineBaskets · 21/01/2019 12:34

Cutting out dairy can help with lots of diseases, it certainly makes a big difference to my MS. I'm not saying it's a cure by any means but I don't think it is outside the realms of probability that it could ease the symptoms of lots of illnesses including perhaps sickle cell.

I don't understand why some people are so dismissive of the idea that the food we eat affects our health massively!