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?

Mmmmmm. There used to be a pie shop near my folks that did the most delicious pies ever. Knocked Greggs into a top hat. I used to go and get them for Saturday lunch.

My mum was scanned with all of her pregnancies in the eighties.

Yes my first in 1980 was scanned, the reason was apparently my fundus was high and because mil had had twins they thought maybe I was! I went on to have one 10 day later than dates, 6ib 10 oz. baby!

I was scanned as a matter of course with the 2 later children. The last one twice because I was placenta praevia with him. All went well.

I was pregnant twice in the early 90s and it was standard to have an ultrasound scan at 20 weeks but not earlier. I think it became standard to do one earlier not long after that.

I had two babies born in the 80s the first in 1982 and had several scans the first at 16 weeks. Second baby in 1988 again several scans including a 3D scan 3 weeks before birth because the baby was big and not moving much.

The older new midwife played Agatha Christie in a Doctor Who episode. It took me ages to recognise her, but I knew I knew her voice!

That's right. For some reason I keep thinking she was the same actress thst9 played the middle daughter in Downton Abbey. She's not though!!

It's the brilliant Fenella Woolgar. One of my favourite actresses and I'd swap her for Miranda any day.

The mention of someone using a screw driver to bring on a miscarriage reminded me of something my mum once told me. When I was born in the fifties, we lived on a tiny back street in Manchester, and my mum's best friend lived opposite. Both had little girls the same age, and mum said to her friend that she really didn't want another baby for at least another year. Her friend said " Just do what I do, Nell. If I'm late and getting worried, I stick a knitting needle up. Gets rid of it easily." Thank goodness Mum decided it sounded "a bit risky".

Clawdy good God how horrific!

I've heard of the knitting needle technique before. You'd drink a lot of gin and have a hot bath beforehand. It still resulted in women dying of sepsis or bleeding to death.

Bittermints, I had scans at around 12 weeks in the 80s.

I’m one of twins born in the fifties. We were born at home and my mum and the midwife had no idea it was twins until we appeared.

Blimey Trevor were you yr.mum's first borns? Did she not have any other pregnancies to compare with? Or you were both tiny?

Gosh! Lots of interesting revelations here.

I wonder why there was such variation in offering early scans. I'd have had one at 13 weeks if it had been offered, and it definitely wasn't at my local hospital in the early 90s.

It's the same now isn't it? Bitter The NHS varies in almost all areas. technically and geographically!

My mum had twins in the late 50s born in a London teaching hospital. She knew she was expecting twins and received excellent care all the way through the pregnancy.

user14570 The maternity 'care' I had in a 1980 London teaching hospital was like a 5 star hotel compared to the local one where I had my next 2 !

Returning to the scan comments, I did my midwifery training in 1977 and scans were not performed routinely, just to mums who presented with a problem. Xrays were not uncommon (yikes) in later pregnancy.
As an odd on my friend at the very end of her training attending her 2nd alone delivery realised the baby was small for gestation, lo and behold number 2 arrived. It was Christmas Day. No one had any idea!

I was a late 60s baby and I'm pretty sure my mum was x-rayed (she'd had to have surgery and they were checking I was ok).

stuckinarut, I got round that by taking a free month's trial on Amazon Prime and then I was able to stream the series for a few quid (Christmas special was separate, but only about £2). I don't think I could have streamed it without the Amazon Prime membership but I'm not as clued up on all this as some! It was cheaper doing that than buying a boxed set of DVDs, which would have been the alternative.

Love Gladys and the Suffragette back story. Forcible feeding. To get the right to vote.