Call The Midwife actress Helen George who plays Trixie has discussed how her own experience of a difficult pregnancy would not be used in the programme as it is set in 1963 and her illness was only diagnosed in the 1970s.
Speaking to the Radio Times the midwife playing actress said that her baby was born early as she had a liver condition called Intrahepatic Cholestasis of pregnancy ICP which can cause a baby to be stillborn as bile builds up in a mother's blood.
The actress was asked if her time working on Call The Midwife affected her views on childbirth she said: "I chose to have a C-section [caesarean]. It coincided with the fact that I had to deliver her early, but even without that, I would have gone for an elective caesarean because of what I’d learnt on Call the Midwife.
Working on Call the Midwife means that lots of people tell you their horror stories about birth. I’m not against natural birth, I’m pro whatever you feel is right for you.
Some people may not understand why I elected to have a C-section, but it was right for me at the time. It’s not because I’m ‘too posh to push’, it’s about what I think my body is capable of. I’m not good with pain… I faint when I stub my toe.
Lots of people were shocked by that decision, but I’ve experienced natural childbirth through the legs of many an actress and I didn’t want to do it myself," she says with a smile.
She said: "I think there needs to be a national conversation about how C-sections are alright and they don’t just have to be for emergencies"
Meanwhile, Sister Monica Joan is facing into the possibility of having surgery herself as she finds out she is suffering from cataracts.
Judy Parfitt who plays Sister Monica is 82-years-of age and is one of the most favourite characters of the series writer Heidi Thomas.
The writer said that she has been building up Sister Monica's failing eye sight across the series.
Call The Midwife's Christmas special was watched by nearly ten million people on Christmas Day. The series returns tonight to BBC One at 8pm.
