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The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times

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"Why did I ever start? Do I regret it?" Jennifer Worth asks herself in her memoir The Midwife. "Never, never, never. I wouldn't swap my job for anything on earth." Worth began her career as a midwife in the 1950s in the London Docklands.

The Docklands were poverty stricken, dirty, and recently bombed during World War II. People lived in condemned buildings among rats, grime, and violence. Worth worked out of a Nunnery, providing prenatal care, delivering babies in their homes, and checking up on the moms and babies afterward. It was a busy life with highly unpredictable hours.

One of the most memorable women in the book was Conchita Warren. Worth delivered two of her babies, numbers 24 and 25! The Warren family all lived together in a small London apartment. What was most remarkable--apart from the vast number of children--was the fact that Conchita spoke no English. Her soldier husband had met and married her in Spain and brought her home with him. "Quite suddenly, with blinding insight, the secret of their blissful marriage was revealed to me," Worth wrote. "She couldn't speak a word of English, and he couldn't speak a word of Spanish!"

Some readers may be turned off by the subject, fearing gore, blood, and other unpleasant things often associated with birth. But this is one book you don't want to judge by its cover. The Midwife is, more than anything, the story of an amazing woman in 1950s London and the people she met. I recommend this book to anyone interested in history, motivating stories, or who just wants a good read.

by Jennifer Melville
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

When I first heard about the book THE MIDWIFE: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth, I just knew I wanted to read it. I have always been fascinated by the role of midwives in our history, and I thought the idea of the author living in a convent would be interesting. too While I was thinking that I'd probably like this book, I can definitely say that THE MIDWIFE far exceeded my expectations!

This is a major aside, but it might help explain my interest in the profession of midwifery. I think women who choose midwives for their birthing option have amazing experiences. However, I have to admit that I didn't choose to go that route -- mainly because I am a major chicken and wanted an epidural. (In fact, when I was admitted to the hospital to deliver my first daughter and was asked about my pain plan, I told them DRUGS - early and often.) I find it very ironic that my daughter was actually delivered by a midwife because the doctor never made it to the delivery room in time! My husband and I agreed that the woman who delivered my daughter was a very supportive and inspirational person who made my delivery extra-special.

Since THE MIDWIFE is a memoir, I was expecting it to be all about the author Jennifer Worth. I figured that this book would include information about how the author became a midwife -- the reason behind her decision as well as lots of information on her training, etc. However, much to my surprise, this book wasn't really all about Ms. Worth. Rather, the "memoir" was filled with amazing stories about the mothers (and others) that she encountered during her years as a midwife. In addition, I was surprise by how readable this book was -- there were so many touching stories as well as humorous ones that existed within the pages of this book.

I just loved reading this book and learning about all of her patients' birthing stories. I definitely gained a huge respect for the value of a midwife in the lives of these people who lived in London's East End in the 1950s; however, what I also found was how brave and strong all of these women were who lived back then. Often times, these women were living in squalid and crowded conditions with lots (and lots) of children; and their husbands were little, if any, help. In addition, birth control wasn't really an option for most of these women. The way they balanced their lives and their families is absolutely amazing; and I found THE MIDWIFE to be a very uplifting story about the power of women!

In addition to enjoying the stories about Ms. Worth's patients, I also really liked the parts of the book that took place in the convent. Because the author had worked as a nurse in the rigid environment of a hospital, she definitely appreciated the loving and caring nature of the nuns. I have no doubt that these nuns were just wonderful women with all the good they did for the families in London's East End. While I was touched by their actions, I also found myself laughing out load at the many hilarious stories about the women. I felt like these anecdotes about the women living in the convent were also very much a testament to the strength of women.

Another thing I really adored about this book was seeing how Ms. Worth grew not only as a midwife, but also as a person. I really liked her from the first pages of this book; however, my admiration for her just kept growing as I read this book. I truly believe that women that went into the midwife profession in the 1950s like Ms. Worth were a very special breed, but I loved how Ms. Worth matured through the years she lived in the convent. She began her story with a pretty apathetic view on religion; however, as she lived with these holy women and saw their faith, she began to think about her own beliefs. The book definitely doesn't hit you over the head with these messages (and maybe I was just looking for them), but I really appreciated how she ended this book.

Needless to say, I highly recommend THE MIDWIFE. I think anyone who is interested in midwifery or even medicine back in the 1950s would enjoy this book. In addition, I think women of all types will value the various stories about the amazing women she encountered.

Jennifer Worth went to work as a midwife trainee, then fully-qualified midwife in London's grimy East End district in the 50's. Though this is post-WWII Britain, the story could read as something out of Dickens. The East End cockneys are mainly dock workers who have a work-feast-or-famine existence and birth control was all but unknown. They relied on midwives from local charity institutions such as religious orders both Catholic and Church-of-England to provide pre-, post- and neonatal care.

The author rides to visit her patients on bicycle, bringing a kit that can fit on the basket. The conditions are sometimes horrendous--and the situations life-threatening for the women giving birth. Yet the midwives prevail in some very astonishing situations with simple techniques that would amaze current medical professionals.

My favorite story was of the couple who had the happiest of marriages and about 18 kids--because the wife and husband spoke different languages. They were of the poorest, but they managed remarkably well considering their situation.

This is a good book to read in contrast to Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin. Both deal with natural childbirth, and how different the situations. Ms. Gaskin is wife of the founder of the Farm Commune and her fame as a midwife coach is world reknown. I'd recommend you read both of these if you are interested in the subject.

Jennifer Worth's tale of her time as a midwife in the Docklands of London's East End in the 1950's reads more like a Dickensian novel from the 1850's. Early in the book, she explains that by the early 1960's, the East-ender Cockney culture and dockworker-dominated economy in this part of London came quietly to an end. Until then, this culture had sustained itself for more than 100 years with little change, highly insulated from outside influences.

"The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy and Hard Times" is much more than a tale of delivering babies. It is a work of history and anthropology as well as a personal memoir. The chapter-by-chapter blend of all these elements is told by a woman with a keen eye to all that she saw and experienced. No detail escapes her sharp perception along with a skilled ability to weave these details into a cultural context. Each chapter is a story unto itself. The chapters roll up to an epic tale.

Why did this culture end in the early 1960's? Worth offers up three reasons for this early in her book: loss of dockyard jobs; demolition of the tenements; and finally, arrival of the pill resulting in much smaller family size.

Huge families were the norm in the Docklands of the East End in the 1950's just as they had been for many decades. Families typically lived in two or three-room tenements, some without running water and most without a bathroom. No one practiced birth control. Young people married young.

Many of the tenement blocks were built in the 1840's and 1850's and those that surived World War II bombing had undergone little structural alteration in the years since. This was the type of living that would support a modest working-class family at a level that allowed a measure of dignity in an era that was still largely missing the social support systems and welfare culture that is Britain today.

With rudimentary nursing skills, Worth affiliated with a church order that provided midwifery services to the women in families which fully embraced this culture. This was an era when most working-class women still gave birth at home rather than in hospital. The midwives performed essential services to people who would otherwise have gone largely without service at all. Most of their skills were the skills of midwives who learned by experience and mentoring not through academic or technical medical education.

Her tale is also about what life was like at the nunnery and why she enjoyed the lifestyle and companionship much more than she ever could have had she been a nurse in a hospital.

For a bonus, at the end of the book there is a fascinating appendix on Cockney language terms and expressions, their derivation and use.

"The Midwife" is a well-told tale of what is now a bygone era. Five Stars!

Who would ever think a memoir about midwifery could read like an action adventure? Not me. Nevertheless, Jennifer Worth's new book The Midwife, a Memoir of Brith, Joy, and Hard Times, does just that--at the same time it is as personal as journal and as informative as a social history of everyday life in the East End of London in the 1950s.

Worth writes with wit and insight as she brings to life the challenge of helping women lying at home on sagging beds bring into this world new life. She often did so without the benefits of indoor plumbing, telephones, or maternity technology.

At the age of 22, Worth left home to live with nuns and work as an apprentice midwife. Worth says, "The Work of the Midwives of St. Raymund Nonnatus [a pseudonym] was based upon a foundation of religious discipline. I have no doubt that this was necessary at the time because the working conditions were so disgusting and the work so relentless that only those with a calling from God would wish to undertake it."

White says even though she could have pursued any number of careers, she felt called to midwifery. Indeed, the work engulfed her and swept her way with joy, pain, fun, and a relentless curiousity that brought her into the homes of the poorest of the poor, climbing around prams and wet laundry, small, diaperless other children, and husbands who stayed well away from their laboring wives until called to see their progeny to do her work. That work involves treating families as families, respecting their authority over their lives, believing in the sanctity of life, and giving with heart--a heart of compassion and grace.

Whether she is writing about a non-English-speaking wife from Spain who is delivering her 25th baby or about a confused runaway Irish prostitute who loses her mind after her baby is taken away for adoption, White brings the reader right into the room and straight into the wonder of birth.

The road to becoming a midwife brings White to a new beginning where she takes the advice the aged Sister Monica Joan: "Her constant phrase, 'Go with God,' had puzzled me a good deal. Suddenly it became clear. It was a revelation--acceptance. It filled me with joy. Accept life, the world, Spirit, God, call it what you will, or at least to come to terms with the meaning of life. These three small words, 'Go with God,' were for me the beginning of faith.

"That evening, I started to read the Gospels."

I delivered my baby 10 years ago with the help of a midwife. I chose a midwife instead of a hospital because I respected my own body and it's ability to do what it was designed to do. I wanted to be in the company of a woman who saw my pregnancy as a fact of life rather than a medical condition. During the hours of waiting, Cathy talked about feeling called to be a midwife. After years of accumulating college credits, the light dawned that she should become a midwife. Without medication, medical equipment, or a doctor, my baby came. I felt that experience over and over as I read White's book. Every night after I read a few chapters, I slept on the though that life is beautiful all by itself.

This book was fascinating. Not only did it give an excellent birds eye view of 1950's England, but it also told of some completely amazing birth stories from that time period.

I especially enjoyed the story of the preemie baby born at home at 26? weeks. NICU's everywhere would be shocked at the thought of a baby that age being born at home, the mother refusing medical treatment, and the mother being able to nurse her baby back to help simply by following her intuition. She expressed milk to the baby when he was too young to suck and followed the principles of kangaroo care, leaving the baby between her breasts constantly so that he could maintain his temperature and feel his mother near him. That mother following her instinct saved that baby's life. Truly amazing stuff.

The book also helps you to appreciate all the things that we take for granted; heating, electricity, bedding, toilets, running hot water. Some of the stories are absolutely heartbreaking, including the mother that had to work in a workhouse and where 4 out of her 5 children died. Absolutely heartbreaking. It really makes you appreciate what you have and wonder how on earth humans have managed to live for so long, especially in some horribly, deplorable living situations.

Jennifer Worth is an excellent storyteller. Her words stay in your mind long after the book is finished. Her descriptions are candid and fulfilling. I only wish that she had told more birth stories!

I loved this book so much I sought out the two sequels, Shadows of the Workhouse and Farewell to the East End both of which were only published in the UK. I recommend you seek them out if you want to know more about what became of Sister Monica Joan, plummy ol' Chummy and the people of the Docklands. Shadows is fairly depressing in parts, but overall entirely rewarding. Be forewarned, though, that it focuses on biographies of East Enders whom Worth once knew, and not midwifery tales. Still, Worth's dramatic flair is especially rewarding to readings in East End. Farewell has a bit more of an obstetric slant, wherein Worth branches out from her own cases to notable cases encountered by some of her colleagues, but the memoir chapters alternate with chapters profiling the general social-medical circumstances of the day, as Shadows does in regard to poverty in London. Anyway, both are wonderful, intriguing fun, and if you liked The Midwife (published as Call the Midwife in the UK), you'll enjoy Shadows of the Workhouse: The Drama of Life in Postwar London and Farewell To The East End: The Last Days of the East End Midwives.

When I first heard of The Midwife, my first thought was, "Oh great, another story about hippies and home births". I was sorely mistaken. This book is not about hippies and home births, but rather it is the story of a life journey. Jennifer Worth tells the story of her midwifery days in London's East End during the 1950's. Ms. Worth is a master story teller, skillfully intertwining humor, tragedy, and heroism with her own journey of personal growth. Beginning her midwifery career at the age of 22, she resides with a group of nuns in a convent. The nuns, and thereby Ms. Worth serve the impoverished people in London's Dock towns. With no vehicles, the nurses and nuns travel by bicycle to visit their patients. I so appreciated Ms. Worth's anecdotes about the nuns, the other nurses, and the patients she encounters. Ms. Worth lets us in on her personal journey of how she grows to love the unlovable and appreciate all types of people. As readers, we have the privilege of observing how Ms. Worth is impacted as much by her patients as they are by her. The stories of life in the East End in the 1950's were fascinating. Ms. Worth often uses a Cockney dialect in the book, which took me a while to adjust to and catch on to. However, it made the book come to life. I am looking forward to reading other books by Jennifer Worth

"The Midwife" is a memoir, giving you a peek into life as seen by a midwife in London's early 1950's. The midwife, J--, was in her early 20's and (essentially) apprenticed in a convent to finish learning how to be a midwife and, to a lesser degree, general nursing. This book doesn't tell you much about J--, but rather focuses on what it was like to be a midwife, tales of the people she encountered, and life in London in the 1950's, which is naturally much more socialistic than the U.S. It touches on J--'s first exposure to Christianity in this convent, as she had been raised not going to church. Also describes the poverty she saw in length. The sad story of how one girl became a prostitute could just as easily happen today.

Some of the tales are heartwarming, others horrific or sad. Altogether well worth reading and interesting. My favorite tale is an uplifting story about a man whom the author calls a "Holy Fool" (foolish in the ways of the world, wise in the ways of God). Personally, I think the whole book is worth reading for this one chapter.

Lends itself to being put down and read in pieces.

This book shows how much the culture of childbearing has changed since the 1950's, and how much we owe to midwives as caregivers for women.
I puchased it for a friend who introduced midwifery to a large Midwestern U. S. city. She was delighted with the descriptions of midwives working among the poor, which has been her main area of interest.
Recommended for anyone with an interest in this subject.