Call The Midwife Series 13 Part 2

[PinkFrogss]

Or Call Saint Turner, as the show has really turned into.

To most people in 1969 going to the US was as likely as flying to the moon!

Trixie & Matthew storyline is stupid. I don't think there was ever a tradition of midwifery in the US so would her skills even have translated there? No discussion of any of this at all.

No midwives in USA? How do women have babies there?

Fred mistakenly ordered 20 cwt (hundredweight) of swedes.
20 cwt = 1 Imperial ton, which is a bit heavier than a metric tonne.
1 metric tonne = 1000kg
Average weight of a swede = 500g
Therefore, there would have been a minimum of 2000 swedes.
The pile would have been a lot bigger I think.

They traditionally had midwives as we did in the meaning of women in the community who would assist at births through history, but they didn’t have clinical midwives in the same way at that time - births in hospital (which almost all were) were doctor-led. Midwifery as a modern profession is still way behind other Western nations there too.

The did cover racism with Lucille. But I believe the actress felt this was at the expense of her getting a range of storylines - she always got the Racism of the Week storyline and no chance for individual character development.

British nurses would have had little trouble getting a job in the US, but not as midwives. Hospitals got a grip on births there much earlier and more firmly than here, with doctors launching campaigns against midwifery from the 19th century onwards. Rural births tended to be at home, but hospital was promoted as ideal and there would have been nothing like the Nonatus maternity home until after Ina May Gaskin set up the first out-of-hospital birth centre in 1971.

20 cwt (hundredweight) of swedes.

Turnips, not swedes.

Midwifery as a modern profession is still way behind other Western nations there too.

California currently has the highest number of nurse midwives, with around 1,000 for the whole state - plus 500 licenced midwives (different training route that doesn't need a nursing degree). The UK has a population about twice the size, and 57,000 midwives.

@Efemail i agree. My mum was Irish and could only live in nurses accommodation during this period as the adverts for rooms for rent read ‘No Irish, no blacks and no dogs’ even in the east end.

Yes it really grates on me. Never even a hint of racism. No judgement of unmarried mothers. It’s just nonsense. It’s like some woke 25 year old with no understanding of history and no concept of societal change is writing the scripts.

Also I do laugh at some of the clothes which seem unconvincingly fashionable for a poor community. Clothes were expensive and difficult to keep clean .

Also Matthew just cannot act. He seems to have constipation and be battling to stay awake most of the time. He has two expressions, sullen and sulky. Glad to see the back of him.

I think they have labour and delivery nurses which is more similar to the UK midwife role than general nursing, although if Matthew's new job is paying enough for an almost bankrupt man to fly into a new life with a young child to support without a pause I imagine Trixie wouldn't need to work in NY.

Trixie is a nurse as well. I'm sure she could find work if necessary. Probably very similar work.

Haha, this made me chuckle in agreement. I always was thinking what is wrong with the actor - is he in some sort of unseen pain?

A job, sure. But not similar at all. Community midwives weren't a thing.

She's already rejected the idea of working at the nice private maternity clinic close to their London flat, because she is committed to community work in Poplar.

The naice clinic was also performing abortions which she was dead set against, though she didn't mention that to Matthew.

Yes same here. Northen side had turnip lanterns which were rock hard and can't be scooped, more hacked at with a strong metal spoon and a penknife. Then, holes were made either side of the top of the turnip under the lid, and string was threaded through (knotted on the inside either side) to make a handle as they were indeed too hot to hold.

That's an authentic mid-late 70s experience, not just something I read about somewhere or something or someone said or something

*Northern not Northen!

I like Cyril. Him and Reggie are my favourite characters. They need to kill Lucille off or something though.

it was so shite on Sunday. Why can’t I stop watching .

I haven’t watched Sundays yet. I thought I’d pop along here to see what the gossip is. Still not tempted to watch. Maybe if nothing else on.

Such a shame those earlier series were super.

Fashion in 1969: I was 21 and shopped at C&A, local independent boutiques or the market. Mail order catalogues, such as Freeman’s and Empire were a great way of getting up to date clothes and paying for them weekly out of
my wages. I could sew and home dressmaking was much more common Than nowadays. More fabric shops, our market had a lot of fabric and haberdashery stalls. I’d go to the market in my lunchtime at the factory on a Wednesday buy a length of fabric and a pattern, and be wearing the dress on Saturday night out on The town, on the pull. (( we had an extra half hour on Wednesday and finished later )
Clothes weren’t hard to keep clean, We had washing machines, launderettes or Dry Cleaners. And this was in the frozen north east.

Looks like Sunday’s the last episode of this season!

Goodness I have just watched Sunday's episode. It was so bad, it's not even worth commenting on.

I was 13 in 1969 and can remember shopping at C&A, Dorothy Perkins, Richard Shops, Chelsea Girl fairly regularly. Also lots of things from the "catalogue" My friends have stopped watching CTM because it is so removed from the reality of the late 60's.

I posted on a different CTM thread then found this one. Curious to see what other people think. My original comment:

I used to love CTM (I still do) but it's unrecognisable as a series now. Where is Sister Julienne with her moving, tear inducing quotes. She was a wonderful character and some of the things she would say have genuinely helped me through some tough times by giving me a different perspective on things. I know she isn't a real character, but the writing for her character was impeccable. She always says (or used to say) the right thing and put you at immediate ease. Now we're lucky to see her and she's no longer involved in any storylines.

I knew it was losing it when it was no longer reducing me to tears and not just with the obviously sad scenes. Re-watch the moment Sister MJ meets Valerie in the kitchen at Nonnatus House, and she recalls delivering her. Bloody hell, they are only having a conversation but it was so moving. When Chummy's mother died - I was sobbing. Not just a few tears down my cheeks, sobbing into a tissue. My husband had to comfort me, it moved me so much. There's nothing like that now - it's just a predictable, soap opera style drama. I still watch it but it's not the same. It needs to come to a conclusion. I can only imagine that they are dragging it out to the early 70's when the Order closed down. If so, there are another 2/3 series to go yet.

When Chummy's mother died - I was sobbing. Not just a few tears down my cheeks, sobbing into a tissue. My husband had to comfort me, it moved me so much. There's nothing like that now

Absolutely this. Chummy's mother had me in tears as well - and I remember kind of relief-laugh-crying combo when Chummy delivered her first breach presentation alone. It was so tense and such a moving moment when it went well.

Now, sadly, the program is more a source of scorn and ridicule.

Chummy is painting her mother's nails and her mother reaches out and strokes Chummy's face. Then Chummy says "you've never done that before". Her mother replies "yes I have. When you were very little". So emotional. There was nothing else like it on tv.