The Midwife attended to Michelle Connor when she was taken to Weatherfield General in the twenty-third week of her pregnancy in January 2017 after suffering pains in her abdomen. Leanne Battersby accompanied Michelle as the father, Steve McDonald, was out. The calm midwife told the two women that they would carry out some checks, including blood pressure, and then conduct a scan to have a better idea what was going on. Steve turned up just after Michelle had been wheeled into the examination room and was with her when the scan produced a strong heartbeat from the baby boy. Michelle was told that she had lost some amniotic fluid, giving a risk of infection, so she would be kept in for forty-eight hours with antibiotics.
The next day, Michelle's waters broke and the labour could not be stopped, even though the child was underdeveloped. She and Steve were devastated to be told that it was the hospital's policy not to intervene if the baby couldn't breathe of his own accord. The midwife added to their anxiety and grief when she told them that due to Michelle's advanced state, she couldn't be moved away from the maternity ward with the sound of healthy, crying babies. She then assisted another midwife at the birth of a stillborn boy, who they named Ruairi.
Michelle was placed in a bereavement suite to recover from the birth and death. When Michelle was informed that no birth or death certificate would be issued, she took her temper out on the midwife, snapping at her when she was told how she understood what she was going through, only for her to reply that she herself has suffered a stillbirth in the past. Michelle was allowed time to be with the baby before he was taken to the chapel of rest by the midwife who gave her a leaflet offering information and support, something that gave her scant comfort. The midwife also allowed grandmother Liz McDonald a short time with the baby before he was taken away.
In August 2023, Sarah Barlow was the patient when, pregnant with a baby fathered by Damon Hay, she began to suffer pains soon after a row with cuckolded husband Adam. She took herself off to the hospital in a taxi where the midwife conducted an initial scan but, fearing the worst, had the sound turned down on the equipment. Sarah suspected the worst but the midwife refused to answer her questions about what was wrong and instead fetched a doctor. She confirmed the midwife's withheld prognosis and had to break the news to Sarah that she'd lost the baby.
Afterwards, the midwife had to sympathetically counsel Sarah about her options regarding the dead foetus. She offered her the choice of waiting for the baby to pass out of her system of its own accord, or they could speed things up with the abortion drug misoprostol. Faced with the dreadful reality of what was happening to her, Sarah had to confess that she and Adam had split up after he discovered that the baby wasn't his and the two had had another highly emotional fight. Sarah was afraid that the baby had known it wasn't wanted and the midwife had to assure her that while stress could have been a factor in the miscarriage, there were a range of other reasons as to why this pregnancy wasn't meant to happen. Breaking down in tears, Sarah and the midwife talked about her previous experiences with the death of Billy Platt in June 2004 and the post-partum depression that she had suffered after the birth of Harry Platt in March 2016 and the midwife assured her that she was going to make sure that she would receive the best care she could in dealing with this latest tragedy. With Sarah now desperate to get the matter over with, the midwife arranged for an immediate operation under a local anaesthetic to remove the foetus.
List of appearances[]
2017
2023