'Call the Midwife' Recap: Season 14 Episode 1

Call the Midwife is available to stream for a limited time. Recap the previous and following episodes and other seasons.
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Ingrid Martin is upset that she has to pay for some staples that were once free at the maternity clinic now that her husband is again working. And that’s not the only thing bothering her. She lives on the Isle of Dogs, a quickly growing area that doesn’t have enough services for its working class residents and is often shut off from the rest of London when its bridges are raised to let ships pass.

Feeling unfairly neglected, some men from the Isle of Dogs declare an independent republic, appointing themselves president and ministers. Violet, who is mayor of the area from which the Isle of Dogs is seceding, refuses to support them. The “president” declares that all rents will now go to a new citizen council, not Violet’s council. She is annoyed to see Reggie and Fred protesting alongside Ingrid and other Isle of Dogs residents.

Winnie Welch also lives on the Isle of Dogs, but she has more pressing things to worry about. She is pregnant and scheduled to undergo a caesarean section at the hospital because a natural birth risks uterine rupture after her first baby had gestational diabetes and required a C-section. Winnie wanted to give birth at home, in the bed in which her mother had her and her siblings. She was in the hospital for three weeks following her previous pregnancy, in pain and separated from her baby, who stayed in the nursery.

But when she looks up uterine rupture in some textbooks at a library, she’s terrified that it could happen to her. She reluctantly agrees to another hospital birth. She at least will have the midwives of Nonnatus to assist her before and after: she was reassigned to Dr. Turner after her former doctor’s practice on the Isle of Dogs closed.

Those midwives have won a pay raise thanks to a concerted union campaign. Trixie is once again among them, back from New York City to work in order to prevent her registration from lapsing. Business is good for her husband Matthew in New York; the family should be able to return to London within a year. Sister Julienne is planning to use Trixie as an asset in a fight against the board of health, which is acting aggressively against Nonnatus House because it is a religious institution.

Nancy likely won’t be part of that fight. She has once again been offered a hospital position that includes a house she could share with her daughter Colette– but this time she will probably take it, because it will bring her closer to her boyfriend Roger. It will allow them to more easily spend time together before they get married – and Roger has a ring to propose. They will get married in six months, in Poplar. He will set up a meeting between his mother and Nancy and Colette.

Unfortunately, Roger’s mother Esther is Presbyterian, while Nancy was raised Catholic – and divisions between Protestants and Catholics are growing ever deeper in their native Ireland. Esther also disapproves of Nancy’s status as an unmarried mother who is no longer religious, as she sternly makes clear to her future daughter-in-law when she comes to visit Nonnatus without telling Roger. He warns his mother that he will cut off ties with her if she won’t accept Nancy. Nancy finds support from Miss Higgins, who offers to vouch for her.

Miss Higgins invites Esther to tea, and Esther is impressed that such a respectable woman will speak on Nancy’s behalf. She is still skeptical, but Miss Higgins shares her own story of a child out of wedlock across a religious divide. Esther commends Miss Higgins’ bravery, and decides to attend an engagement party for Roger and Nancy thrown by their friends in Poplar.

Religion is also important in the Cunningham family. Thirteen-year-old Paula delivers papers for Fred and Violet, who notices Paula throwing up one morning. Violet tells Paula’s mother, Grace, who explains to Dr. Turner that the women in the family often have cystitis and are late to their periods. But Dr. Turner thinks Paula is pregnant, and a test soon confirms it.

The Cunninghams refuse to believe it. Grace wouldn’t let Paula take part in sex education at school because of her religious beliefs, and she doesn’t want to talk to Cyril, who will help support Paula and the family on behalf of the government when she has her baby.

When Joyce is surprised to find that Paula’s hymen is still intact, Dr. Turner says that can sometimes happen – but the Cunninghams take it as a sign of either immaculate conception, or something satanic. When they bring in ministers from their church and Paula says she doesn’t believe in the devil, the ministers warn that that means she doesn’t fear him – which is dangerous. The Cunninghams won’t let Joyce into the house for a follow-up appointment. But when the ministers start frightening Paula with a sort of exorcism, her father stops it and tells his daughter to run to Nonnatus House.

There, Paula admits to Joyce that she and a newspaper delivery boy often “play-fought.” She doesn’t really know what happened, but Joyce understands. Cyril organizes a stay at a maternity home for Paula, where she can give birth and her child can be given up for adoption. Grace is upset by everything, but Paula’s father accepts it as the best path for his daughter. The midwives bring Paula’s hamsters to the home for her, so she can have company. And Cyril comforts Rosalind, who is struggling with the limits of what the midwives can do for the patients in their care.

They don’t let much stop them, however. When the Isle of Dogs protests shut down access to bridges to the area as Winnie Welch goes into labor, Nurse Crane and Rosalind won’t stop in trying to get to Winnie. Unfortunately, an ambulance can’t reach her in time because of the protests, so she will have to deliver at home – to her and Nurse Crane’s great fear.

Nurse Crane has been scarred by witnessing the death of a mother due to uterine rupture. She’s paralyzed by the thought of it happening to Winnie, so Rosalind takes charge – and successfully and safely delivers a girl to Winnie in her own bed, without any complications, just as Winnie always dreamed.