Modern Life Short Story: Call The Midwife

MODERN LIFE SHORT STORY BY PAMELA ORMONDROYD

Maureen loved her job – and she had a sixth sense for it, too…

“He’s going to be a fine, strapping lad, Laura.” Maureen Parker gazed intently at the ultrasound screen. “An athlete, I reckon. A high jumper.

“Have you seen the length of those legs? He’ll be six feet tall, at least.”

Laura struggled to raise herself on to her elbows and gave just one cursory side glance at the screen.

She was already the mother of three loud and energetic lads.

Maureen knew that what was important to Laura, as it was to any mother, was a child who was healthy and slept well.

“Is your partner tall?” Maureen asked, as she helped the mum-to-be off the couch.

“He’s short and stout. Just like me,” Laura replied.

“Ah, well,” Maureen said, not one to be defeated. “It’ll be someone in the family he takes after, then. I’m usually right about these things.

“Telepathy, sixth sense, call it what you will. It’s just a feeling in my bones.

“Anyway, you take care now, my love.”

Maureen ushered Laura out of the room and then flopped down on to an upright chair.

It had been a busy week at the hospital and, coupled with the unexpected sudden heatwave, the atmosphere in the maternity unit seemed to
be unusually close and stuffy.

Maureen rubbed her calves and sipped her bottled water.

Hot weather didn’t agree with either her or her ankles. She seemed to tire so easily.

Oh, she loved her job as a midwife, but just sometimes she felt she was run off her feet.

What with constant targets to meet, ever increasing paperwork to catch up on and phones that never stopped ringing, there was hardly time to breathe.

It wasn’t like the old days, when life ticked over at a more leisurely pace and Maureen seemed to have more time to strike up a real bond with her patients.

“It must be my age, Carol,” Maureen said later.

She and her colleague were sitting in the hospital grounds enjoying a quick sandwich in a shady spot.

“I know they keep saying that forty is the new thirty these days, but I’ve been at this job for nearly twenty-two years now, you know.

“I started at eighteen and never looked back. Eddie keeps saying I’m sighing a lot more and that I should reduce my hours.

“I just tell him that I’ll think about it, and I never do.”

Carol smiled.

“I’ve learned such a lot from you over the years. I have never known anyone so devoted.

“It’s shame you’ve never had children of your own. You would have made a wonderful mum.”

Maureen smiled at her colleague’s words.

She had held so many children in her arms; some of them even felt like her own.

Those were memories that would last a lifetime.

“Eat up, Mo,” Carol said, looking at her phone and suddenly standing up. “We’re on duty again in five minutes!”

“That new young couple across the road at number three,” Maureen said as she peered through her curtains at the early morning street.

“Yes, what about them?” Eddie replied.

“She’s expecting a baby. I’m sure of it.”

Eddie crept into the living-room and wound his arms affectionately around his wife’s waist.

“You’ve got babies on the brain,” he said.

They watched the young woman across the road wiping the mist from her car window.

“And how do you know, anyway? We haven’t even spoken to them yet.”

Maureen smiled.

“The way she winced and held her back as she eased into the driver’s seat just now.

“Eddie Parker, you really should know me by now. I have a definite feel for these things.”

“Oh, yes, I forgot. ‘It’s in my bones, I tell you!’” Eddie mimicked his wife.

She shook her head, smiling, then headed to work.

It was the start of another week and the waiting-room was packed.

Maureen’s room had been a particularly happy one this morning, as a set of twins had shown up on the ultrasound.

She had been affectionately hugged and twirled round the room by one overwhelmed but overjoyed father-to-be.

“Two gorgeous little daughters,” she’d said proudly as she disclosed the news. “They’ll be dancers, I’d say, or something in the artistic vein.

“They might even be on the stage one day. I can tell, you know!”

She was still panting a little from her unexpected ballroom twirl as she walked along the corridor to meet Carol for a break.

But just as she walked along the row of mothers in the waiting area, Maureen stopped in her tracks.

For sitting tucked away in a corner was the young woman from across her street.

Maureen could barely suppress her glee. She was right!

Her intuition had paid off yet again.

However, Maureen wisely decided not to introduce herself. Not yet.

She might be a little embarrassed and the conversation a little awkward.

No, Maureen would bide her time and hopefully catch her new neighbour in the street one day soon.

“She’s about three months gone, I reckon, Ed,” she announced triumphantly over supper. “I told you!”

Eddie just smiled and shook his head.

“Hey, keep your fingers off my chips, Maureen Foster,” he said, leaning across the table as she cheekily swiped a huge one off the edge of his fork. “You’ve been doing a lot of that lately. You’ve already stolen half my fish.”

A few weeks later, on her day off, Maureen had taken an early morning stroll to the local shops.

Maureen and Carol were on a temporary health kick in order to get a bit fitter.

Maureen wanted to give her poor ankles a bit of a breather, too.

She was halfway along the street when she noticed that her new neighbour was on her knees weeding in her front garden.

It seemed the ideal opportunity to introduce herself.

“Hello,” Maureen said, peering over the garden fence, causing the young woman to jump a little.

“I bet that’s tough going at the moment, after all the dry weather we’ve had. The ground must be rock hard.”

The young woman stopped what she was doing and struggled to get upright.

She looked flushed and there was sweat on her brow.

“You can say that again.” She smiled, and then she looked curiously at Maureen as if she recognised her from somewhere.

“You know, I’m sure I’ve seen you a few times at the hospital. You’re a midwife, aren’t you?”

Maureen nodded.

“Yes, I am. Maureen Parker’s the name. I’ve seen you there, too. I was going to come over and speak to you the other day.

“I hope you didn’t think I was being rude by rushing past, but it wasn’t quite the right time. How are you?”

“Oh, I’m OK, thank you. I just have a bit of backache. I reckon it was from when I lifted all those heavy boxes when we moved here.”

Maureen shook her head.

“Oh, you must be careful, my dear. You mustn’t wear yourself out, you know, trying to do too much in your condition.”

The young woman looked a little bemused for a second or two.

Then the penny seemed to drop and a wide smile filled her face.

“Oh, I’m not expecting a baby! I wasn’t in the maternity unit for myself.

“Mark, my husband, and I won’t be starting a family for years yet.

“No, I was there with my sister,” she continued. “She had a few problems with her pregnancy earlier on, but all’s going well now.

“The hospital has been great and is keeping an eye on her. I just trot along when I can to give her a bit of support.”

Maureen was deflated. She’d got it all wrong.

Suddenly, she felt a little giddy.

The sun had suddenly broken through the cloud with a vengeance and was shining right on the back of her neck.

She held on to the fence for a moment while the young woman dropped her trowel and hurried round on to the path to see if she could help.

“I’ll be all right,” Maureen insisted, glad that she was near home at least. “It’s the heat.”

“Well, I’m Jenny, if you ever need any help,” the young woman said, taking Maureen’s arm. “You know where I am.”

“Thank you, Jenny.”

Eddie came out of the house to see what was happening, looking a little worried.

After a brief rest, Maureen was her normal self.

Eddie, meanwhile, had fussed about her like a mother hen.

He’d found her a footstool, plumped up the sofa cushions and made her a cup of tea.

“I kept telling you to slow down, Mo. You really must cut down your work hours and look after yourself more.

“But will you listen?”

There was a short pause.

“Yes, Eddie, love, I’m listening, and I think you may be right.”

Eddie nearly dropped down on the spot. He suddenly laughed.

“Wait – are you actually agreeing with me for once? If we both cut our work hours, we could spend more time together – days out, holidays. Just the two of us.”

“Well, I don’t know about that.” Maureen giggled.

Ed looked puzzled.

“Just now, when I was upstairs, I did a test, love,” she explained. “Something’s been niggling me for weeks, but I kept putting it out of my mind.

“Don’t be daft, Maureen, I told myself. It can’t be true, surely? Not after all this time.

“How wrong was I, eh?”

Eddie sat down beside his wife, looking none the wiser.

“I should have put two and two together weeks ago. I mean, with all the experience I’ve had.