Placenta. Also known as the afterbirth. The baby’s life-support system supplying the baby with oxygen and nutrients and removing waste products while he/she is growing in the womb. The placenta also produces essential hormones during the pregnancy.
Postnatal. The time immediately following a birth when a midwife would continue to care for the mother and baby.
Post-partum delirium. A postnatal mental condition now known as puerperal psychosis. The less severe form is called postnatal depression.
Pouch of Douglas. A small pouch-shaped area situated behind the uterus and in front of the rectum.
Pre-eclampsia. A disease that is peculiar to pregnancy. The symptoms are: high blood pressure, protein in the urine and oedema (swelling).
Primigravida. A woman pregnant with her first baby.
Prolapsed cord. Occurs after the membranes have broken and the cord is found outside the uterus.
Restitution of the head. A normal corrective movement of the baby’s head during delivery to bring it back into natural line with the shoulders.
Second stage. The second stage (of labour) is the time when the neck of the womb or uterus is fully open, and the mother starts to push until the delivery of the baby.
Special diet. It was thought that a restricted diet and restricted fluid intake would improve the symptoms of pre-eclampsia. It has now been proved that these restrictions had no effect upon the course of pre-eclampsia and are no longer practised. Pre-eclampsia is treated with rest and drug therapy.
SRN. State Registered Nurse.
Staphylococcus aureus. A bacterium that is commonly found on human skin and mucosa (lining of mouth, nose, etc.). It lives completely harmlessly on the skin and in the nose of about one-third of normal healthy people.
Staph infection. Staphylococcus aureus can infect wounds during or after childbirth or during surgical procedures. These infections may become serious.
Third stage. The third stage of labour is the time from the delivery of the baby to the end of the delivery of the placenta (afterbirth) and control of bleeding.
Transverse lie. Where the baby lies across the mother’s womb (instead of parallel to the mother’s spine) and so cannot descend through the pelvis for a normal birth.
Unstriped muscle. An outdated term for smooth muscle.
Volsellum forceps. Forceps designed to hold the cervix during gynaecological procedures.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sources for the ‘Lost Babies’ chapter
Booth, Charles, ‘The Life and Labour of the People of London’’ vols. I-IX, The Journals of the Royal Statistical Society, 1887.
Booth, General William, In Darkest England, 1890.
Fishman, Professor W. J., East End 1888, Duckworth, 1988.
Fishman, Professor W. J., The Streets of East London, Duckworth, 1979.
Jordan, Jane, Josephine Butler, John Murray, 2000.
Keating, P., ed., Into Unknown England 1866-1913, Fontana, 1976.
Mearns, Andrew and Preston, William, The Bitter Cry of Outcast London, 1883.
William, A. E., Barnardo of Stepney, Allen and Unwin, 1943.
Sources for the ‘Nancy’ chapter
Jordan, Jane, Josephine Butler, John Murray, 2000.
Moberly Bell, E., Josephine Butler, Constable, 1962.
Petrie, Glen, A Singular Iniquity (Campaigns of Josephine Butler), Macmillan, 1971.
Stafford, Ann, The Age of Consent, Hodder and Stoughton, 1964.
Williamson, Joseph, The Forgotten Saint, The Wellclose Trust, 1977.
Sources for the glossary
Ballière’s Nurse’s Dictionary, 7th edition, ed. B. Cape, Ballière Tindall, 1968.
Myles, M., Text Book for Midwives, ed. V. Ruth Bennett and L. K. Brown, Churchill Livingstone, 1999.
Stables, D., Physiology in Childbearing with Anatomy and Related Biosciences, Ballière Tindall, 1999.
Jennifer Worth trained as a nurse at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, and was later ward sister at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in London, then the Marie Curie Hospital, also in London. Music had always been her passion, and in 1973 she left nursing in order to study music intensively, teaching piano and singing for about twenty-five years. Jennifer died in May 2011 after a short illness, leaving her husband Philip, two daughters and three grandchildren. Her books have all been bestsellers.
By Jennifer Worth
Eczema and Food Allergy
Call the Midwife
Shadows of the Workhouse
Farewell to the East End
In the Midst of Life
A PHOENIX EBOOK
First published in Great Britain in 2009 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
First published in ebook in 2009 by Phoenix, an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Copyright © Jennifer Worth 2009
The right of Jennifer Worth to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 0 2978 5779 2
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1 ‘Youth is such a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children.’ George Bernard Shaw. The quote in the chapter title is from Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, act 2, scene 3.
2 The Midwives of St Raymund Nonnatus is a pseudonym. I have taken the name from St Raymund Nonnatus, the patron saint of midwives, obstetricians, pregnant women, childbirth and newborn babies. He was delivered by Caesarean section (‘non natus’ is the Latin for ‘not born’) in Catalonia, Spain, in 1204. His mother, not surprisingly, died at his birth. He became a priest and died in 1240.
3 The meaning is too rude to print, but those interested can consult Rude Cockney Rhyming Slang by Jade Janes, published by Abson Books, London, 1971.
4 A full glossary of obstetric terms is included at the back of the book.
5 I have drawn on several sources for this chapter. For more information a full list is given in the bibliography.
6 See Call the Midwife, p. 221.
7 Charles Booth, The Life and Labour of the People of London, Vols. I to IX, The Journals of the Royal Statistical Society, 1887.
8 If you want to know why the mother took that attitude, and how the story ended, you will have to read Call the Midwife!
9 Jane Jordan, Josephine Butler, John Murray, 2000.
10 For this account of the life of Josephine Butler, I have referred to several sources, all of which are detailed in the Bibliography.
11 A lock hospital was the official term for a hospital treating venereal disease. The infected patients could not leave and were locked in. It was effectively a prison.
12 This essay is not intended as a medical analysis of tuberculosis. I am not a doctor and did not train as a tuberculin nurse. It is merely intended to provide an historical background to the story of the Masterton family, for those who may be interested. My main source of information has been the book The White Plague by Ren’ and Jean Dubois, published in 1953 by Victor Gollancz Ltd.
13 My thanks to the Marie Stopes Society for reading and approving this essay.
his book with friends
Farewell To The East End Page 32