After a splendid afternoon off spending time getting to know our temporary fellow nonnatan Phyllis (or Nurse Crane) I swapped my rather fashionable attire as Trixie would say for my Uniform. It was my turn to be on call overnight, and I was placed on the roster with Patsy, who made for much more of a companion than any of the nuns did whilst working on-call. From the minute I sat down in the Kitchen with a cup of Horlicks, my gut informed me that tonight would be busy and stressful, with not much time to rest. Sure enough after merely 45 minutes Patsy who was first on-call was summoned out to a frantic mum and dad to be a couple of streets away, she whisked to the clinical room where her bag was ready to go and she was out. At half past 12 I was starting to think that it was going to be a waste of a night up, but i was soon proven wrong as I was just debating leaving the phone unmanned to use the lavatory (we weren't meant to leave the phone unmanned, simply to wake the third on call to cover for us) the dreaded phone rang to announce to me that I needed to answer it and go and get Sister Winifred up. After a quick conversation with the end calling us, i determined that i needed to be at the house as soon as it was possible for me to get there. I felt rather guilty waking up the lovely Sister Winifred but she had absolutely no objections at all,at this stage i began to feel unwell but it had come over me sosuddenly that I decided telling her was best "Sorry Sister Winifred,i know it is the great silence and I have just awoken you but i have come over feeling unwell". The thing I disliked most was that on any other day i would suffer through feeling unwell but this was something different . Compassionately,my fellow midwives response was so sweet "I guess that settles it then,i will accompany you to your patient incase you start to feel more unwell and I have a feeling that was Nurse Mount returning". A brief while later we snuck out of the house like mice with a brief explanation to patsy. Fortunately for everyone involved in this ordeal, the house call was a mere few streets away. After we had gowned up and given our woman in the spotlight an examination,she was ready to push. I only felt more unwell and was trying to calm my nerves but it was failing splendidly,soon after Baby's head was born I decided to bite the bullet and inform my partner in a hushed whisper " I would help more but i feel so unwell still. "

The mother began to push properly and moving to help caused me to double over due to pain from my abdomen. I was still in this position when Sister Winifred's strong capable hands delivered a baby girl to make another family complete. The pain was coming and going in waves but i couldn't think of what was causing it. The afterbirth was swifter than the birth and baby itself much to my amusement. I was still feeling so unwell but we needed to focus on the mother now "Nurse Gilbert, please make the necessary checks over the placenta and umbilical cord". My task was very simple and a complete placenta gave us as midwives the all clear to ungown and leave,this was not before i had the opportunity to wince in pain again from an unknown abdominal source. Once we were outside i had to apologise "I'm so sorry for leaving you alone to deliver that baby" even though i knew that sister Winifred definitely wouldn't mind in the slightest. One more wave of pain hit me out of nowhere and i suddenly felt very lightheaded on our walk back, Once we had secured our bikes i got into nonnatus before everything went black

10am that morning in bed

Nurse Crane was sat by my bedside and appeared to be watching over me,once she noticed I was awake then she began to speak "Now lass you fainted once you got into Nonnatus last night,sister Winifred did say you were feeling unwell".

This is when the guilt began to hit me of making everyone really worried about me but i wasn't sure that i could vocalise that to Phyllis. I had a more pressing matter to deal with at that point, getting to the lavatory "Phyllis,can i please go to the lavatory?" Just then Sister Winifred burst through my door,she looked very relieved that i was awake and coherent. The last statement i had uttered displeased Phyllis immensely "Until Dr Turner can examine you,the answer is no I'm afraid you can wait or use a bedpan, those are your options" I was completely and utterly annoyed by this and i think it was a very good job that Sister Julienne then came in with Dr Turner accompanying her which Phyllis and Sister Winifred took as their cue to leave. "I understand you felt unwell last night and had Sr Winifred accompany you to a delivery but had abdominal pain and fainted once you got back here" this was said as Sister Julienne left me with the doctor in peace "As far as I'm aware that is what happened" was the most professional response i could conjure up whilst my mind was elsewhere. "Would you let me take a look and see if I can find out what is going on with you?" This was something that my response to was simply a nod as he began to examine, speaking as he undertook "I have to ask this but when was the date of your last period? ". Knowing what to say here was difficult as i couldn't recall off the top of my head when my last period was without consulting my calendar "I am afraid i don't know without consulting my calendar, it'll be marked on in red pencil crayon. I think the calendar is in the shared bedside cabinet if you'd allow me to grab it" After grabbing and consulting my calendar it revealed to me it was roughly two months ago "It began on the 24th of April and my menstrual cycle is irregular at the best of times" Puzzled, Dr Turner looked up at her before coming to the conclusion that it was simply nothing to worry about with a mild case of anaemia "You may be slightly anaemic,but i will do a blood test to confirm".

later that day,in the bathroom

"Hello is there anyone out there that can help me" I say, hoping that someone can hear me and provide me with help. Less than 30 seconds later Sister Winifred and Sister Monica Joan reply "Are you ok Nurse Gilbert" "What ails you my child" with the former saying the first and the latter the second. I didn't want to turn Sister Monica Joan away but really she could be of no use to me. Sister Winifred was the person who approached the bathroom door to check in on me again "I'm sorry to bother you but could you grab me a change of clothes and my belt of that description from the set of drawers to the left hand side,i don't think i have any pads left but if there is one it would be much appreciated" A couple of minutes later she was back "I grabbed what you requested, there weren't any pads and it's after 4 o'clock on a Sunday so i figured you would not mind borrowing one from me"It had been such a turn of events with such a simple reasoning behind it that i felt extremely stupid for getting everyone so worried about me for a natural thing.

I went quietly down to Sister Juliennes office and she phoned dr turner to inform him as i was far too embarrassed to do it myself