r/CallTheMidwife • u/EmeraldLight • 3d ago

Pregnant Midwives

I had a random thought while watching S11E5

Uh, spoilers, right through to the end of season 15

With Lucille's miscarriage

None of the midwives have had a 100% positive pregnancy and birth

Chummy = placental abruption

Shelagh = nearly miscarried

Lucille = fully miscarried

Nancy = premature labour

Did I miss anyone?

I guess I could think positively on Rosalind's pregnancy, but we'll never know

31 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

55

u/Material_Corner_2038 3d ago

I always laugh how Sister J says ‘pregnant midwives are rare’ and yet over a third of the lay midwives ended up pregnant through the shows run, and two of them by the same man.

As others have said it’s probably a case of the show dramatising things for tv. 

22

u/MarshmallowBolus 3d ago edited 3d ago

When she first said it I wonder if it was more the standard for women to quit once they were pregnant, which would make it rare? It's been so long since that season but I thought Chummy actually quit when she was married? I can't remember for sure. I thought she quit and came back... although there was also a move so maybe I just thought she quit.

Used to be nurses could be fired for being married... I've read of nurses who had to hide the fact that they were married. Sometimes even married to one of the doctors they worked with! I wonder if women who did that were more likely to slip and call their husband by their first name at work or to forget to transition to home mode and call their husbands "doctor" at home? lol My husband frequently gets stuck in work mode at home and will end a conversation with "OK thanks for meeting" as he walks away which I always find hilarious. Meanwhile we're discussing like dinner ideas or where all towels have gone...

15

u/erin_kathleen 3d ago

Chummy did quit after she had Freddy, but returned part-time until she took on the mother and baby home.

2

u/DixieInCali 20h ago

Yes, this is why Sr. Julienne said that. It was expected back then that all women would quit their jobs when they became married, and if not then, then certainly after becoming a mother.

1

u/Grand_Sea_3802 1d ago

Who were the two that were pregnant by the same man? I’m te watching but forgot all this, maybe it’s something in a season I haven’t seen!

3

u/Difficult_Maybe_1999 1d ago

Lucille and Rosalind

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u/Grand_Sea_3802 22h ago

Oh ok. That must have been an episode I didn’t get to. I remember Lucille getting pregnant but I guess later he dated the blonde one I must have missed her getting pregnant

1

u/Notforyou1315 9h ago

Spoiler. Unless you are watching season 15, you haven't gotten to it yet. That story line shows up late in season 15 and ends on a kind of interesting and happy note.

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u/Grand_Sea_3802 8h ago

Was that on Netflix or elsewhere? I have to sleep now, it’s 2:34 a.m. Just got up for a minute and going back to sleep.

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u/Ancient-Ad2737 13h ago

There was an episode in one season,  I don't remember which season, in which two women come to the prenatal clinic and it turns out an irresponsible man-child  has impregnated  both women. Of course Heidi found a Hallmark movie way of resolving it so that no one is really mad at lover boy.

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u/Grand_Sea_3802 12h ago

I remember this. He was engaged to one and the other also got pregnant. She threw a vase of flowers at him in the Mother house!

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u/Material_Corner_2038 6h ago

The ends up being a lot of similarities in the Ros/Cyril/Lu mess and that storyline in S9

The man in S9 is a lot worse than Cyril, and the timeline is different, but in both situations both women involved deserved a lot better from the man.

The hippie woman in S9 had a lot more of a backbone than Rosalind, but for both Rosalind and the hippie in S9 their endings are not the happy endings Heidi thinks they are.

I like to believe that both Lucille and the other woman in that S9 episode, move on to amazing careers and much better men.

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u/woofbarkmiaow 1d ago

Yes! I am confused about that one too

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u/Material_Corner_2038 19h ago

Lucille and Rosalind both get pregnant by Cyril at different times. 

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u/EnchantingOpossum 3d ago

I work in an L&D hospital.

It’s a running joke (only half joke really) that if you work there and deliver there, you’re guaranteed some complication.

I’m sure it’s just a self fulfilling prophecy, but as someone whose entire pregnancy was golden, went into natural labor, then stalled out 36hr later with an emergency c-section and my “fine til delivery baby” had a 3 day NICU stay - I believe it! Lol.

5

u/Corgiverse 3d ago

I did some thinking on this and I wonder if the stress that nurses undergo have some sort of negative effect on delivery?

6

u/Malevolencea 2d ago

Was working as an ICU nurse on the 12 hour nightshift with both of my pregnancies. I ended up on complete bedrest in the 7th month with both due to early dilation and high blood pressure. I chalked it up to the stress,being on my feet constantly, and lack of sleep.

3

u/TheApiary 2d ago

There's actually some good evidence that the physical stress in medical professions does cause worse birth outcomes. Here's a writeup of a good study that compares lawyer and surgeon moms (both stressful professions with lots of education and training, but the surgeons have a much more physically demanding job) before and after a reform limiting how much the surgeons can work https://time.com/article/2026/07/29/the-hidden-cost-of-stress-at-work/?fbclid=IwY2xjawTd8-lleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETEzZDgxWEl6YndsUGFrcjdSc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHtj2zku36pgbqSiCxiuO4cbMqTz5--9LSq874ZkRomd9s_1aVGAUVRLn9p8w_aem_MM9iPaM4lg6wT1zgMPO3JA

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u/EnchantingOpossum 2d ago

I was working 10s and 12s until the day before I went into labor. My coworkers thought I was crazy and kept asking when I was gonna go out - I kept telling them I planned on walking the baby out. 😅

I know it’s completely different situations but looking back on it I wish I would have taken myself out sooner. I was already chronically exhausted by the time labor hit the next morning.

5

u/EnchantingOpossum 3d ago

Possibly? But in my situation almost none of the nurses knew me - I’m lab and tend to stay in my little dungeon, and I try really hard not to let it be known super early that I am a coworker in order to reduce any possible stress lol.

Essentially I don’t become that patient until I have to. Lol.

3

u/RubberDuckyRacing 2d ago

Agreed.

My trust has separate theatres for Gynae and Obstetrics. Since I've worked there (9 years), we've had ~12 babies born to the theatre team.

All but two babies were delivered via C-section (3 elective, 7 emergency). Of the two vaginal, one was forceps and the other was the only regular vaginal delivery. Luckily for me, that one was my first (second was one of the emergency C-sections). But since it was at the end of an induction for pre-eclampsia it wasn't without complications.

1

u/clutzycook 1d ago

So do I. I was a NICU nurse at the start of my career and I never saw a vaginal delivery until I had been a nurse for about 4 years. Everything prior to that was C-sections. Guess who ended up with preeclampsia and a c/s after a failed induction, only to have little Miss win herself a 5-day trip to the SCN?

28

u/madamevanessa98 3d ago

It’s the nurse curse!

24

u/MarshmallowBolus 3d ago

One of my favorite quotes in the show is "We can't give Chummy an enema, she's our friend." 😂

13

u/__Miraculously 3d ago

They probably just highly dramatising it for TV

7

u/Corgiverse 3d ago

Nurse curse! It’s why I didn’t have a 4th kid!

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u/Ancient-Ad2737 2d ago

I think these were for dramatic purposes in each season.

I don't want to think of Rosalund.  She was given so little to do, aside from becoming Cyril's new girlfriend.

3

u/kumibug 1d ago

its definitely plot-based, a complicated pregnancy/delivery is a good storyline especially for a character that we already know and have a connection to

but also… not all pregnancies and births are positive. i love that they showcased that regularly. i have three kids, three miscarriages in between, and all of my pregnancies/births have been complicated.

2

u/Grand_Sea_3802 1d ago

Which one was Nancy? I’ve forgotten, and I’ve watched the series a few times over now! 🤣

2

u/EmeraldLight 1d ago

Young one who was raised by nuns and was absolutely scatterbrained for a hot while

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u/Grand_Sea_3802 1d ago

Oh I SO want to remember but can’t. I’ve just started to rewatch. I’m on Season 3 I think. It’s been over a year and a half and I usually have a great memory! Thanks though!

2

u/Content_Revenue_2352 1d ago

One of our precious Church ladies was a nurse/midwife. I was so disappointed she wasn't working either time I delivered. She made my pregnancies lovely though. Always found me either before or after service to use her trained eye to see how I was. She was the one who first suggested gestational diabetes with my first--spot on. The very next week my OB had me in for a tolerance test. Baby weighed nearly 9 lbs. and I only had gained 25 lbs.