We hear all the time that it takes a village to raise children , but Call the Midwife season 14, episode 3 proves that everyone can benefit from that village. However, the nuns and nurses of Nonnatus House need to deal with a difficult decision after Rosalind gives birth.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for Call the Midwife season 14, episode 3.
There are two main storylines happening throughout the episode, and both show the realities of the time period and the difficulties when it comes to moving away from family and losing loved one. At the very end, we see how Trixie does to save Nonnatus House. Will the season end with the loss of the much-needed institution?
A gas explosion proves that it takes a village in Call the Midwife season 14, episode 3
There are two storylines in one building, and they both connect. Joyce ends up with a district round, which takes to Alf, who has just been discharged from the hospital and has a catheter, and Nerys, a single mom who is just trying to make ends meet. Nerys isn’t a single mom by choice, either. Her husband died, and now she is just trying to figure out how to survive with her children.
Nerys lives above Alf, and he hates the fact that he can constantly hear a baby cry and the children playing. To be honest, he makes a comment about Nerys leaving the children at home alone, and it turns out that he’s right. Nerys has a job that she needs to go to, but she has nobody to look after the children. Joyce doesn’t want to call social services on Nerys, but she does make it clear that Nerys needs to quit her job.
Well, that’s what Nerys goes to do. It just happens to be on the day that Alf’s boiler explodes — something he kept saying was making weird noises but nobody would listen to him about, showing just how invisible he was becoming — and Nerys is out with her children left at home. Alf realizes that the children are trapped in their apartment as everyone else is getting out of the house, and he can’t leave them. The old man has a heart; he’s just grumpy about the hand that life has recently dealt him.
Alf’s turning point is when Fred goes to see him and just be a friendly face. All people need is socialisation and to know that people care. As Alf realizes that that’s what Nerys needs, he rushes up to the children and tries to get them out of the apartment. Fred also runs up to help, despite the firefighters telling him not to go into the building.
It turns out that Nerys was told that she had to work her final shift or she wouldn’t get paid. She didn’t think that this one last time would do too much damage, but Joyce has no choice but to report her to social services. Fortunately, social services isn’t looking to take her children from her, and instead, support Nerys in being the mother she can be.
It looks like this community could grow together. Alf and Nerys could benefit from connecting with each other in the future and checking in on each other.
Norma and her husband make a heartbreaking decision in Call the Midwife
When Norma goes into labor, she manages to get to the clinic to give birth. Right away, it’s clear that there is a problem. The baby has a lump on her spine, and it turns out that she has spina bifida. Norma and her husband make a decision that was common for the time, and it’s heartbreaking to think of. They don’t want a baby with a disability. That’s going to be too much work for them, so they will give her up and just forget about her.
Yes, this happened a lot in the 1960s and 1970s. Even into the 1980s it was happening, and we know even now that there are people who only want a “perfect” baby. It was as simple as just not taking the baby home and registering her birth, leaving the baby with the nuns and midwives of Nonnatus House to handle.
Of course, the nuns and midwives do this with care and attention. They try to get Rosalind to change her mind, but that is in vain. Instead, they need to figure out what to do with this young mite. It’s off to the orphanage, with Sister Veronica taking her with a stuffy. It’s so beautiful to see how the nuns and midwives care about their baby patients. All they want is a good life for them, but it often leaves them making some of the harder and heartbreaking decisions.
Trixie goes to save Nonnatus House in Call the Midwife
When Trixie returned from the United States, Sister Julienne made it clear that she needed Trixie to help Nonnatus House. The council was looking to get rid of Nonnatus House, not liking the fact that the nuns were running it. Well, it’s time for Trixie to meet with the council, and what a fight she puts up!
She makes it very clear that while the secular nurses also work there, the council couldn’t afford all of them. The nuns have taken a vow of poverty, and it’s that that allows Nonnatus House to help so many women in the area. If the council wants to continue to help people make sure they get the medical care they need, then the council needs to keep Nonnatus House.
Trixie is very well spoken. I just love how she keeps her tone level and sticks to the facts. Sister Julienne made the right decision in sending Trixie in to save the day, because the council agrees that they do need Nonnatus House after all. It looks like the nuns and midwives will stick around for a little while longer.
Call the Midwife airs on Sundays at 8/7c on PBS.
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