Call the Midwife documentary features London Ambulance Service crew who saved baby’s life

A clinician who helped to save the life of a mother and baby features in a moving new documentary on BBC iPlayer to promote the launch of the new series of the hit show Call the Midwife.

Emergency Medical Technician Corey Graham is shown visiting baby Lydia and her parents Abie and Michael in the short film, The Real Midwives of Poplar.

The period drama Call the Midwife is centred round the fictional convent Nonnatus House but is based on the real work of nuns at St Fride Swide’s Mission House in Poplar – a building that still stands today.

The film follows real life medical teams as they take care of babies born in the east London borough where Call the Midwife is set.

And it includes the dramatic story of Lydia’s birth which begins with a 999 call from dad Michael to London Ambulance Service.

The call handler is heard saying, “We are coming on blue lights and sirens” and advising Michael “to keep on reassuring” Abie that help is on its way.

Corey was the first of a team of ambulance crews to arrive at the family’s home in the East End.

In the documentary, recalling the birth, Corey says: “With the first contraction after we were there, we saw baby Lydia had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.

“There’s a moment of panic. You know what to do in that situation but when you come across it you still think this is really serious and we are going to have to do something quick.”

Meanwhile in an emotional interview, dad Michael recalls: “The first thing I noticed was that when Lydia came out she was blue and she wasn’t breathing.”

Corey was given the baby to stimulate – actively drying her – until she gave her first cry.

Others in the team were treating mum Abie, who had lost a significant amount of blood. Once she was stabilised, both patients were rushed to hospital.

Crews at London Ambulance Service deliver around 800 babies every year. The Service has a team of midwives to train and support staff – one of the few Service’s in the country to have a dedicated maternity team.

The iPlayer film shows crews at Homerton Ambulance Station taking part in a training drill.

Midwife Camella Main, who leads the session, was a consultant on some of the early episodes of Call the Midwife.

She says: “Women give birth in the same way that they have done for years and they still need the same things when they are giving birth.

“They need compassionate, kind care. They need access to pain medication if they want it. They need a midwife supporting them to give birth at home if they want to – like in Call the Midwife – and we need to be able to support them through the ambulance service if there is an emergency.”

Lydia celebrated her first birthday just after Christmas while Abie is busy training to run the marathon – to raise money for the London Ambulance Charity.

The marathon route will take her past St Paul’s Church in Shadwell where she is training to be a vicar – and close to where Lydia was born.

In the iPlayer film Abie says: “I don’t know how you’re supposed to say thank you to people who saved yours and your baby’s life but there is a happy ending.”

Abie’s fundraising page for the London Ambulance Charity is here.