The first appointment of the day was a brand-new pregnancy. Zoe had never met the mum-to-be, Fern, but as soon as Lavender had seen the name on the list of referrals, she’d had an opinion. That was hardly surprising to Zoe because Lavender always had an opinion when she knew the patient in question.
‘Oh, she’ll beinteresting,’ she’d said, peering at the form from over Zoe’s shoulder before dumping a mug of coffee onto the desk next to her.
Zoe hadn’t wanted to ask but couldn’t help herself. ‘How so?’
‘One of them earth goddess types. Lives on a commune a few miles from here. You know, the knit-your-own-house-out-of-nettles brigade. No telly, candlelit orgies, barefoot all day and flower crowns.’
‘That actually doesn’t sound so bad,’ Zoe had said with a faint smile. ‘Apart from the “no telly” bit. Not sure I could cope with that. I suppose that’s why there are so many orgies.’
‘I’m surprised she’s coming to see you at all. Didn’t even know she was registered here, to be honest. They’re all into making their own medicine out of ditch water and licking frogs or whatever.’
As soon as Lavender had marked Fern’s arrival on the surgery computer system, Zoe was ready to go and meet her. She went through to reception, curious about the woman who had given Lavender the impression she went to orgies and walked around in bare feet, and was confronted with someone who was, though obviously a little bohemian, disappointingly normal.
Fern’s long, dark hair was tied in a neat ponytail and her face bare of make-up. She had her ears pierced four times on each side, a mix of tiny gold studs and hoops, and around her neck she wore an oversized, engraved gold locket. She was petite – not much bigger than Zoe’s own tiny stature – and dressed in an oversized woollen duffle coat and heavy boots.
Zoe stuck out a hand to greet her, and Fern looked faintly surprised as she took it and shook. ‘How are you? I’m Zoe, the midwife here. It’s lovely to meet you.’
‘Hello.’
‘If you’d like to follow me, we can chat in my room.’
Fern did as she was asked, and once they were inside, Zoe shut the door and invited her to take a seat.
‘So…’ Zoe began, getting out her pad to make some initial notes. ‘I realise this doesn’t look very high tech,’ she added, nodding at the book, ‘but I like to get some personal details before I do the medical stuff, and it’s more about getting to know you as a person than caring for you as your midwife. Lavender tells me you live in a commune. That must be interesting. I bet you’re never lonely.’
‘It’s good,’ Fern said carefully. ‘I know a lot of people don’t get it, but I like that everyone takes care of one another.’
‘That sounds lovely, actually. I suppose it’s a bit like living in a village in a lot of ways. Like living here in Thimblebury. I mean, we don’t all cook and grow together, but we do try to look out for one another. Do you know how many weeks pregnant you might be? How many periods have you missed? You’ve done a test, I take it?’
‘I left some pee out in a jar overnight, and Arwen – that’s our commune mum – looked at it and said it meant I was pregnant. I’ve missed only one period, though.’
‘Hmm…’ Zoe made some notes and decided not to reveal her thoughts about old-fashioned pregnancy tests. ‘When was it due?’
‘My period? About three weeks ago.’
‘So we’ll work with those dates for now. I might ask you to do a test for me anyway, just to be sure – it wouldn’t take a minute. And I might also send you for a dating ultrasound if it seems as if we’ve got it wrong further down the line. As for?—’
‘Do I have to come and see you?’
Zoe looked up from her pad. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
Fern fiddled with an earring. ‘I mean…’ Her sentence faltered, and then she spoke again with more force. ‘I mean, do I have to come to the surgery to see you? Can Arwen look after me? She says she’s delivered babies before and there’s no need to come to you. She says the community can do it, but I was a bit worried I’d be breaking the law or something. I have to register the birth, right?’
‘Well, yes, of course, but?—’
‘So does that mean I also have to tell you that I’m pregnant and have all those scans and stuff, even if I don’t want to?’
‘Well, you’ve already told me you’re pregnant, so the horse has bolted on that one.’ Zoe tried to keep her tone light and reassuring, but alarm bells were going off in her head. ‘Can I ask what it is about my input that’s worrying you?’
‘It’s not that, it’s just how we do things in the commune. Everyone who has a baby gets looked after by the other women.’
‘And you’re happy with that?’ Zoe couldn’t help but feel that the very fact Fern was here meant she wasn’t entirely comfortable with that scenario. But it also sounded as if she didn’t want to go against the consensus of her fellow commune members.
Fern nodded.
‘OK.’ Zoe was thoughtful for a moment as she worked out how to reply. ‘Technically, you’re allowed to have what we call a “free birth”, which means there’s no law to say you have to be under the care of a midwife. However, as this is your first baby, and because of the way you live, I wouldn’t advise it.’
‘Arwen says I’m young and strong and it should be all right.’
