ABSTRACT
Many vivid memories from giving birth in the mid-1970s have stayed with me. Over time I seem to have distilled those of the midwives who cared for me into two main categories. There were midwives who were extremely kind and those who were not. Sadly, the former were in the minority. One sister glows in my memory as the embodiment of calmness and kindness. The interesting thing is I cannot remember any specific words that she said to me. When finally I went into labour, I begged her to deliver my baby, and she apologised and smiled and made a reassuring comment about her colleague looking after me just as well. Instead, her colleague told me to ‘stop making that noise!’
