Review of The Way Things Are by Sukie Tawdry

I don't know what it is but once I've read something I simply love to discuss it. There's no one to talk to in RL so here I am on the (I was going to write LJ but it isn't really LJ anymore is it) journal banging it out. 

I don't have a single XF icon anymore since I deleted the lick picture. Why on earth did I do that? Coffee cups it is. 

So. 

Lets review: The Way Things Are by Sukie Tawdry

I'm a midwife (and an RN but my brain is midwifery these days). I wasn't one the first time I read all these fanfics, so any babyfic or familyfic back then, I read happily in my guiltypleasure bubble and just enjoyed them without looking deeply.

I have to say, there were only 2 minor things that irked me with this story (no one measures a fundal height at 10 weeks, I don't think you can even palpate it, from 20 weeks onward we would. Also you can't use a stethoscope to listen to a fetal heart that's akin to listening to a radial pulse with a stethoscope. If she wrote pinnard I would have been "someone read the textbook" doppler would have been bang on) -- but the birth scene was fine as it was, so I forgave Sukie immediately, and more so with that cute ending.

It does capture M and S of the early days quite nicely with a twist (the baby twist) and the guiltypleasure box is defiantly ticked by this story. 


( Full storyline in a nutshell )

According to gossamer, this fic was the only thing listed as having been written by her. I find that surprising.

 Score card:
Characterisation of canon characters: B
Characterisation of original characters: (this would be the abductors) B
Story line: B+
Smut: A 
Overall writing: A

I gave smutt an A because the way she wrote it, suited the story to a T, wasn't overbearing  (There's a way -- for example, had me trying hard not to scroll through some sections because it started to get repetitive) - and matched the developments in the story. 

I took 7 weeks off prior to starting the midi program in June of 2019. I should have been re-reading fanfic back then! It would have been a largely different experience. 

The episiotomy I should have cut

( Let me regurgitate the events of the afternoon. )

I left resolved to ensure I cut an episiotomy for all Indian women who had had one before and it being a term baby. It just seems like the right thing to do from now on.

I also knew I'd be up until 2am thinking about the episiotomy that I didn't cut.

That the consequences of the 3a tear - meant repair in OT which also meant:
- Mum and baby were separated
- Could be for a long enough period that the baby will be given formula
- That the experience itself is traumatic for the the couple.
- They won't forget this "negative experience"
- Now they've lost faith in midwives to ensure good outcomes at birth.