The show is called "Call the Midwife" in the USA and is now being shown on PBS in many areas of the US. I've seen most of the episodes so far and have also read the book. 

An interesting aside, the woman who wrote the book (who worked as a midwife and used her experiences in the book) was talking about the mother with 25 children refusing to let her preterm baby be taken to the hospital or given "formula milks." The midwife mentions that "in school we were taught that formula milks are much superior, but I have found that breast milk is best for most babies. Mothers seem to know what is best." Or similar wording. It made me smile. (Although the episode where the young girl's breasts are bound made me cringe and one of my daughters said, "I knew you were going to take issue with that!" It was 60 years ago, after all.) 

I found the show excellent, although a bit more dramatic than the book. It takes place in the early 1950s and in the East End of London where bomb sites from WWII have not yet been cleaned up and many of the patients live in terrible tenement housing or even in the bomb sites themselves. 

One of my children said, "Mama, that's kind of what you do!" as she sees me often rushing out with my bag after a quick phone call.  She knows I don't catch babies, and I use a car, not a bicycle,  but I did find some common ground with the Midwives and my youngest child saw the similarities. 

I have to admit, I cry during every episode! Either from joy or sadness or just the sight of a newborn baby safely in the arms of his mother. 

Mary Jozwiak, IBCLC, RLC

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