Call The Midwife

[Homethroughthepuddles]

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?

Finding it difficult to believe all the nuns would have been so right on about abortion.

They were nurses and midwives living and working in areas of extreme deprivation, they saw real life at its worst. The Nonnatus nuns never judged, that comes over quite clearly in Jennifer Worth's books on which the series are based.

It certainly seems quite realistic to me for there to be more than one abortion (this one was the third), back street abortions were rife in 1964. Also not unreasonable for Sister Monica Joan to be ill occasionally at her age.

I like the two new nuns very much, I think the older one enjoying bike riding so much will be a lot of fun.

Sr Julienne said midwife means "with woman" and that's what they do. Goodness only knows what they saw, plenty of botched abortions probably.

Might be confusing them with Catholic nuns? If I was seeing them as Catholic I’d find it impossible to believe more than one of them - being generous - would be ok. Though I admit I got grew up around catholic nuns, but don’t know Anglican ones

Mind you I half expected the young new nun to report it to the policeman. When the midwife said “is the sergent still here?” I thought she might think it meant “go tell him”.

Should add I do know both religions oppose abortion, but CofE recognises there maybe reasons for it,

Whilst studying for my Theological Degree I spent time learning with the Sisters and had the opportunity to meet Jenny Worth when she visited them who are the real life basis of the Nonnatus nuns. The religious nursing order was based in and worked amongst families in areas of grinding poverty. Whilst each sister may have had moments where they would quietly rail at God in prayer over situations they found personally heartbreaking they always responded to the real need within the world and that which continued to come to their door with true compassion. Being a nursing order where each member is a qualified nurse and sister they do make greater allowences and freedoms for a sister who is much loved but adversely affected by the frailties of age. Sadly it is an order that existed to meet a specific need for skilled midwifes and nurses amongst those in poverty in a specific period of time before the advent of the NHS.

Did anyone else wince when Dr Turner got the forceps out and was gleefully wiping the heads, bit like I imagine Sweeney Todd must have done with his razor before cutting peoples throats!

Triballeader all of my family were born at Guy’s Hospital in the 1950s and 60s so Hospital births were quite normal in Bermondsey at that time. Hackney had a mothers’ hospital for confinement and births. Was Nonnatus and the midwife nuns just in Poplar or other areas of London? London was famous for its teaching hospitals.

the triplet thing annoyed me. that last little one would have been starved of oxygen and had some sort of disability.....yet not a mention.

triballeader That is soo interesting is the order still in existence? Do they help in the same way?

I missed the Christmas edition but I enjoyed last night's, the new nuns were good especially the one who seemed a little like a replacement for Miranda as Chummy rather posh and liking her new bike !

I thought that the poor woman who had an abortion was going to give her sister's baby an infection when she was handling the bottle of babymilk. I'm glad no one died. Though having triplets must be bad enough now let alone with all those nappies to wash with very few labour saving devices and a useless husband! Though he was sweet with the last born!

I loved the look on the triplet dad's face when the photo was being taken - it was a bit "oh fuck!"

Does anyone know if all the 'babies' we see being born are real? If so where do they get them from? I read somewhere that some of them are models with robotic movements.

Samcro Sometimes the disability doesn't show for quite a while, or although she was in distress, as long as she was getting oxygen from the placenta it doesn't mean she would be disabled. I THINK.

(dd1 was distressed at birth) and isn't disabled in any way!! I'm pleased to say

the baby wasn't breathing though. I lived through that so know the chances of not ill affects are quite slim.(glad it was ok for you)

I read about the robotic thing too

This episode goes to prove really that you can never ban abortion.
Only safe abortion

Not all of the babies are real. They have some amazing 'dolls' for more complicated births which are then swapped for babies when close ups are needed. This has been said before but the doll used to play baby Susan Mullucks, who had Downs, was incredible.

Apologies, not Downs. She was affected by thalidomide.

ppeatfruit The order was orgionally based in Poplar. The Sr's first provided midwiferary and nursing to families before the NHS. After the advent of the NHS they worked in the NHS with a special care for home births and district nursing of the sick and elderly. They moved to East Birmingham in 1976 where they worked at various Maternity Hospitals, home vists and even taught in teaching hospitals. They moved in 2016 to a much smaller house. There are now only four sisters still living and all are retired but they continue to share the hospitality of their home as age allows.

I love the two new nuns and the new receptionist. They've brought a bit of character back into the series after the loss of Chummy, Sr Evangelina and Barbara. Valerie and Lucille just don't seem to have the same quirkiness or nostalgic vibe of some of the earlier characters although I know they demonstrate how Midwifery went from being quite an upper middle class job to a more egalitarian one between the fifties and sixties.

ppeatfruit
The Order is The Community of St. John the Divine. It still exists and is listed in the Anglican Relgious Handbook. It is also home to The Consecrated Single Life, a dispersed order within the anglican church. It is no longer open to new aspirants as its one of the religious orders that was founded around the Oxford Movement to meet a specific need.
Their spirituality is derived from the Cowley Fathers and 'The disciple whom Jesus loved' in John's Gospel and draws deeply from the teaching on love, compassion that point towards where God's Kingdom may be found.

Babies are mostly real and new born as possibly I think. The robotic babies were when they were dealing with thalidomide stories (as far as I know).

Almost sure the first triplet had a bruise on the back of her hand

They use dolls at other times too, depending on the delivery. I used to be a CTM mega fan with lots of inside info but I've calmed down the last couple of years

"The real Trixie is no longer the Helen George character. They've built her a story.
I knew and worked with the real Trixie (or at least tte lady she was based upon)) and she certainly was not an alcoholic.
It's now basiy a soap."

I'm sure Jennifer Worth said that Trixie wasn't a real person but an amalgam of a few people she'd worked with.
In real life Cynthia was actually the one with the really alluring voice, and she remained a close friend of Jennifer's long after they'd both left Poplar.

Thank you very much tribal It's lovely to hear that they are still with us, even though in Birmingham .

Samcro Sorry If things didn't work out for you or yours.