Scottish Midwives

Lindsay Reid has interviewed midwives from across Scotland in her quest to understand  midwives and their practice in the twentieth century. 

Scottish Midwives: Twentieth Century Voices brings together a wealth of interweaving narratives, based on midwives' oral testimonies, to trace the development of midwifery in Scotland in the twentieth century. For example:

• I wis jist aboot eighteen when I delivered ma first baby...I'd never seen a bairn bein born afore (p45).
• Just before the child was born the sirens sounded and the blast blew out the sacking covering the windows.and soot blew into the room from the roofs. Under these conditions I delivered the baby (p69).
• We delivered babies in houses where there was real poverty with nothing ready for the baby. No cot, blankets or clothes (p 77).
• There appeared to be a general fascination with, ‘How does a man become a midwife?'(p139).
• Another thing I remember - she wanted syntometrine, and the syntometrine ampoule cracked. You only get one ampoule [for a home birth] so she couldn't get her syntometrine. So she had a completely natural third stage. It was wonderful (p189).

By telling their stories, contributors have allowed us to share their emotions and experiences of what it was like to be a midwife in the twentieth century. They have made their history come alive.

                   Scottish Midwives: Twentieth Century Voices

            Lindsay Reid, midwife writer and researcher.

First pub. Tuckwell Press (2000).  2^nd ed. 2008 from Black Devon Books.

(Please make cheques payable to Black Devon Books).

            Also online at www.word-power.co.uk