A Midwife is Born by Carole E. Rogers

Author:Carole E. Rogers [Rogers, Carole E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781490777832
Publisher: Trafford
Published: 2016-11-14T05:00:00+00:00

Memory 57

Our little routine

I was three quarters of the way through my midwifery training when my parents presented me with a problem that I had not foreseen; 1966 was not going to slip away without presenting us with another challenge!

I signed the contract for one year’s-worth of training. We all knew I would have to live in the nurse’s residence for three months and my parents had agreed to care for Catherine during this period of time. Of those twelve weeks, I would still get two days off every week and not be required for any duty during that time.

Now the problem arose when my Mum had had a welcome win on the premium bonds and she planned to spend the money on a trip visiting relations in Australia.

My Dad could not run his business by himself without Mum and look after Catherine at the same time; I could not break my contract with only three months left to run. Yes, we had a dilemma.

After much anxiety, my Mum’s Sister, Auntie Marion, offered a solution that I shall be forever grateful. My Auntie Marion and Uncle Bill opened up their home and their hearts and took Catherine into a precious slice of family life she may never have known.

Catherine spent three months blissfully immersed in a family life I could never give her. She grew to love all seven of her cousins in that short time. There was Heather, Brian, Linda, Angela and Wendy, all children of my Cousin Margaret and her husband Cyril. And then there was Ian and Maureen, who were the children of my other Cousin Stan and his wife Mary.

I found this separation from Catherine much more difficult than she did. On my days off, all I longed to do was jump on the first bus bound for the 50 mile-away Ashington and bring her back with me, but I knew this would not be possible; it would upset both of us when she had to go back and start to settle in once more. Also, with my Mum away there were jobs I had to do for Dad to keep him going until she came back.

Most of my days off were spent cooking and cleaning.

While he knew his way around the kitchen and being an ex-service man, he was a practical soul but he did miss Mum’s home-cooked meals. The temporary solution was for me prepare several dinners on plates for him to re-heat after closing the shop.

One must remember I’m talking about pre-microwave days so the ritual was:

1. ¾ fill pan with water.

2. Place pan on heating ring on top of oven.

3. Switch ring on.

4. Place dinner plate of food on top of pan.

5. Place pan lid over food.

6. Carefully remove plate when food heated through.

7. Make sure to turn heat off before sitting down to eat.

And, hopefully, something palatable and edible became available – he survived without any bout of food poisoning so we must have done Okay!

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