Call the Midwife (on PBS in the US)

[caszandra]

2 hours ago, Blahblah said:

I had to banish the kids and MrBlah so that I could snuffle and blow my nose without them laughing at me. Every time I thought it couldn't get any sadder, it did. I'm wrung out.

I spent the day with a headache and red eyes from all the crying I did, I want to watch it again but don't think I can yet.  It packed an emotional punch and like you when I thought it couldn't get sadder and I had cried enough another scene would set me off worse than before. 

[Blahblah]

The shoes did me in.

[caszandra]

24 minutes ago, Blahblah said:

The shoes did me in.

Oh man, I'm getting teary again.  That was a beautiful moment.

[PennySycamore]

@bertnee,  I just watched the first episode of Season 5 (yeah we're late!) and saw the thalidomide baby.  Thalidomide was a sedative or tranquilizer that was prescribed in Europe and Japan, beginning in the late 50s, and sometimes given to pregnant women for morning sickness.   Doctors began to notice that some women were having babies suffering from phocomelia. One thing these mothers had in common was taking thalidomide.  

This dangerous, teratogenic drug was sold over the counter in Germany, but due to the courageous action of FDA reviewer Dr Frances Kelsey, the drug was not approved by the FDA of the US.  One Phoenix woman, Sherri Finkbine, was given thalidomide while she was pregnant by her husband who'd gotten it in Europe.  She ended up going to Sweden for a therapeutic abortion. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide#History

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Oldham_Kelsey

 

[Blahblah]

Just started dabbling in my family tree. I have discovered that my great grandparents lived in Poplar!! Squee!

[caszandra]

On ‎21‎/‎04‎/‎2016 at 11:37 PM, Blahblah said:

Just started dabbling in my family tree. I have discovered that my great grandparents lived in Poplar!! Squee!

That is so cool!

[Palimpsest]

I hadn't realized this thread existed!  I love Call the Midwife.

A very long time ago (1978) when I did my Cert Ed. post BA, I did my teaching practice in Canning Town (right next to Poplar) in the replacement for the South Hallsville School (direct hit in 1940 with hundreds of people sheltering in the school cellar).  The locals considered the bomb site a memorial even though the details of the South Hallsville School disaster were still kept secret.  

The Sisters of St John the Divine covered Canning Town as well as Poplar and Bow and you occasionally saw them around in that very distinctive habit. They were in the process of closing up shop in Poplar and the community really mourned them.

Thalidomide is still used today for treating cancer and leprosy, amongst other things - very carefully!

Edited April 23, 2016 by Palimpsest

[PennySycamore]

I think the Cottingham baby that was born on the most recent Call the Midwife (series 6, episode 3) suffered from the same abnormalities that Sherri Finkbine's fetus had.  I do recall that they were unable to determine the sex of the fetus after her therapeutic abortion.

[Blahblah]

Anyone else watched the Christmas special yet? Don't want to pose spoilers but I cried at least a couple of times. This show always gets to me.

[PennySycamore]

On 12/27/2016 at 6:25 AM, Blahblah said:

Anyone else watched the Christmas special yet? Don't want to pose spoilers but I cried at least a couple of times. This show always gets to me.

I watched it twice on Christmas evening.  I loved it.  I don't think I'm spoiling anything, but the sisters and nurses of Nonnatus House go to South Africa to help out in a mission associated with the order.  It's very good!

[ScorpiousMalfoy]

I just love this show! But I did love it a teeny tiny bit more back in the first seasons when it was more directly based on Jennifer Worth's books (love them too!). The special was alright, not my favourite episode, but not a bad one either. The storylines were good. Anybody knows when season 6 begins?

[Blahblah]

I loved the books too but I hated Jessica Raine or whatever her name is (the actress who played her) so I was glad when she left. I do miss Chummy and I will miss Sister Evangelina this season. 

Edited January 7, 2017 by Blahblah

[ScorpiousMalfoy]

Chummy is THE BEST! The show is so much better when she's in it. I really hope Miranda Hart rejoins the cast! About Jessica Raine - I had a weird crush on her beauty-wise (she's so so so pretty), but her acting was a  bit stiff at times. I still think the show was a tad more realistic back in seasons 1-3

[ClaraOswin]

I am still a season or two behind. Chummy leaves?!  SAD.

[PennySycamore]

@ScorpiousMalfoy, the new season starts on PBS in May.

[Blahblah]

On 08/01/2017 at 6:55 AM, ClaraOswin said:

I am still a season or two behind. Chummy leaves?!  SAD.

Oh no! Sorry for the spoiler!

[ClaraOswin]

Oh, no biggie. I am not usually too bothered with spoilers. If I were, I wouldn't have checked the thread.

[ScorpiousMalfoy]

Has anybody watched the new episode, the first of the season? I thought it was really great, touching important problems and starting new storylines... gaaaah, it's so hard not giving out any spoilers... I really loved it.

[Blahblah]

Yeah I'm watching the new season. There are so many comings and goings that I'm seriously wondering whether they started filming while some of the actors were still on holidays or doing Christmas pantos. 

And also:

Spoiler

If Sheelagh loses the baby I will have a tantrum. The Turners are my favourite TV couple (love me a McGann) and they deserve that baby.

 

[send*the*ferrets]

I'm watching season 6 now. @Blahblah I agree with you- I will throw a massive hissy fit if anything goes wrong! Half my Facebook friends go on and on about "This is Us" and their weekly cry- I watched one episode and got bored- but Call the Midwife! I am obsessed. 

[send*the*ferrets]

I really need somebody watching along with me so I can go play by play 

edit- not related to Shalagh- my grandmother had a stillborn baby in 1962, she was not allowed to see the baby. 

Edited March 28, 2017 by send*the*ferrets

[PennySycamore]

@send*the*ferrets, when I lost my baby in 1988, we got to see Katherine after she died.  That might have always been the case, but you're right that years earlier, that parents weren't allowed the see their stillborn babies.  When Katherine died, it was thought to be healing to view the body, but IIRC, there has been some more recent research that this is not the case.  I'm not sure what present practice is.  I do think that any parents who want to see and hold their dead child should be permitted to do so.

[send*the*ferrets]

My sister is a nicu nurse and she said now they do whatever the parents would like, and they try to have things set up beforehand. There was a moment on call the midwife where a patient wanted to see the baby, and they said no- it just reminded me of my grandma- she was actually given "twilight sleep", woke up and the baby was gone. She knew something was wrong beforehand, but not what exactly. 

[PennySycamore]

@send*the*ferrets, was that with one of the thalidomide babies where the mother was not allowed to see her dead newborn?

Some of those babies were horribly deformed, far beyond the usual phocomelia.  Not saying that mother should not have been allowed to see her child, but it is maybe more understandable in those cases.

The real reason I posted is this though:  The new season starts this Sunday, April 2 at least on my PBS affiliate!  YAY! 

[send*the*ferrets]

@PennySycamore no, it was a season 6 baby- i may have watched it early