S12.E08: Episode 8

[proserpina65]

1 hour ago, Kimmmmmm said:

I could do without Chummy.

I liked Chummy but her story moved on and I'm fine with her not being there for the wedding.

[Notabug]

7 minutes ago, Sarah 103 said:

I was pretty sure he was gay the minute I heard him and the way he handed her the bag. 

 I'm not sure if they used the word in the show but flamboyant woud have been one of the euphemisms used in the era to imply someone was gay without using an insult/deragatory term. 

That was the moment (it was around halfway through the episode) when my suspicion that he was gay was confirmed. (FYI confirmed bachelor was another polite way of implying someone was gay).

I would love to see Geoffrey again. Especially since homosexuality had just been decriminalized in England when this episode took place. While there was still prejudice and life would have been incredibly difficult, fear of arrest was not what it would have been a few years before.  

In the U.S the Stonewall uprising barely made the local papers at the time. Maybe a short paragaph/a few sentences at most. Also, there have been very few U.S news stories that have been covered within this series. Aside from the JFK Assasination, I can't think of a single major U.S news story that was mentioned/a major part of an episode. I was sure the MLK Assasination was going to be mentioned this season, but they went with a UK centric story to deal with race/racial prejudice. 

That would make sense. He told her the family owned a tiara with sapphires, and Trixie thought it sounded wonderful. I can believe that Matthew might not have done the best job of describing it. Once Trixie saw it and thought about it (especially after what Matthew told her about it), realized it was all wrong for her. 

That's what I think too. They were both stressed out and nervous over the wedding, and this is what the fight was about. If they didn't have the big argument over the tiara, it would have been something else. As you pointed out, they both realized pretty quickly being together and having a life together was more important than the wedding. 

 

Even though Stonewall barely caused a ripple in the mainstream media at the time, the story was big in the gay community.  I would expect, presuming he is active in the local gay community, that Trixie's brother would hear about it and it might trigger some storyline.  Also, just pointing out that the show is now arriving at a moment in history where there was more open acknowledgment that not everyone was straight.

[Quilt Fairy]

I really don't understand the PBS edits as it sounds like none of them would push the show over its one hour time slot.  They always have the same filler afterwards, and I would much rather see the actual episode than "Reflections on Season 12 of Call the Midwife" 8 times in a row.  In particular, for a season finale an extra-long show would not be out of the ordinary.  The scenes at the Turner house with the Chinese food sound wonderful.  

Does anyone know, when the season goes over to Netflix, is it the edited episodes or the complete ones?

I didn't quite understand Matthew suddenly showing up with the tiara.  How did he hunt it down, and did he buy it for her or just get it on loan from a jeweler? 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Quilt Fairy

[caitmcg]

On 5/6/2023 at 9:56 PM, Badger said:

Shelagh and Lizzie are talking away from the dinner table. Shelagh says that Lizzie must allow them to pay for the dinner; Lizzie says that Uncle Li would have her guts for garters.  She then says that she didn't know how any of this was going to turn out but that she realized that if you go where love is, that's where life is.  Shelagh says she realized the same thing once and that it was the beginning of everything.

This was a particularly glaring cut, given that later in the episode, Shelagh refers to and quotes Lizzie saying “if you go where love is, that’s where life is.” I wondered at the time whether I’d missed something. Turns out I did, but only because it wasn’t there.

40 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Does anyone know, when the season goes over to Netflix, is it the edited episodes or the complete ones?

Netflix shows what airs on PBS. The only ones we see broadcast in the US without cuts are the Christmas specials, apparently.

[dubbel zout]

48 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I didn't quite understand Matthew suddenly showing up with the tiara.  How did he hunt it down, and did he buy it for her or just get it on loan from a jeweler? 

He said he did a bit of detective work (that ended up being not that difficult) to figure out which friend bought the tiara, and I presume he then asked to borrow it for the wedding.

[jschoolgirl]

5 minutes ago, LtKelley said:

I definitely wouldn't want her back on the show but it would have been nice to see SOMEONE other than Nancy and Phyllis out of the many past midwives show up. 

Or at least read a card or telegram from one or hopefully more of them! That wouldn’t cost them anything.

[Badger]

4 minutes ago, jschoolgirl said:

Or at least read a card or telegram from one or hopefully more of them! That wouldn’t cost them anything.

Or when Phyllis was talking to Sr. Julienne. she could have said something about how when someone leaves, you always say you're going to keep in touch, but after a while,  everyone moves on.  

[jschoolgirl]

I liked Vanessa Redgrave’s closing speech a lot. She sounded stronger than earlier in the season.

[dubbel zout]

Just now, jschoolgirl said:

I liked Vanessa Redgrave’s closing speech a lot. She sounded stronger than earlier in the season.

I was wondering if they did a bit of electronic tinkering with her voiceovers, as she's been much easier to understand lately.

[Daff]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

"some of us are destined to that for life." Can't remember the exact dialogue but it was an obvious acknowledgment.

I don’t know if it was during this conversation you reference, but Trixie did say to him that she wished he could find a similar kind of happiness (as she has found). I thought that was revealing as Trixie obviously accepts him without reservations.

[eel21788]

2 hours ago, Notabug said:

I'm hoping the nosebleeds were just a red herring.  Neither aplastic anemia nor leukemia were very survivable at that point in history.

However, it has always been possible for aplastic anemia to have spontaneous remissions. That could explain Collette being tired mentioned previously but not recently followed by a later onset of nosebleeds.

[debraran]

I think the social media dismay and anger over the nosebleeds is there have been other shows with them and children back then didn't fare well. I can't see CTM being so tacky with writing that they can't figure out how to get mom and child together so they kill off the kid. That would be so below them. I think what caused the outcry was it wasn't a one time "she's bleeding, keep her away from the dress" it was said 2 or 3 times. We get it, she has a bloody nose that wont stop.

Was the reason Collette isn't with her mom just the room? I thought it was she couldn't watch her being on call etc.

Since Matthew seems to buy everything for everyone I was kind of hoping their lifestyle ebbed a bit and he wasn't the Santa of Poplar. There is something nice but also unseemly about that.

[jschoolgirl]

When I saw the teaser picture and the words "car accident," I thought Trixie was in the accident and the pic showed her a hospital patient.

[Orcinus orca]

I was a little confused about the accident. It was on a narrow road loaded with pedestrians so it's not like he was speeding on a freeway.  I suppose that, without seatbelts, it's possible to sustain a fatal head injury at a low speed but pretty unlikely in my experience (neuro ICU nurse).  Don't know why Dr. Turner pulled "heart attack" out of thin air either.

They were all remarkably blood free after the C-section, too.

Some rather shoddy edits this season.

2 hours ago, caitmcg said:

This was a particularly glaring cut, given that later in the episode, Shelagh refers to and quotes Lizzie saying “if you go where love is, that’s where life is.” I wondered at the time whether I’d missed something. Turns out I did, but only because it wasn’t there.

Totally agree, that was an egregious choice.  It explained so much.

[MartyQui]

8 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

Colette's nosebleeds were never diagnosed, were they? The show made such a big deal of them without any sort of resolution. Even a "oh, she must be nervous" would have done it for me.

My sister had a lot of nosebleeds…she was a chronic nose picker. ;)

[eel21788]

1 hour ago, Orcinus orca said:

I was a little confused about the accident. It was on a narrow road loaded with pedestrians so it's not like he was speeding on a freeway.  I suppose that, without seatbelts, it's possible to sustain a fatal head injury at a low speed but pretty unlikely in my experience (neuro ICU nurse).  Don't know why Dr. Turner pulled "heart attack" out of thin air either.

She was definitely an unrestrained passenger.

If she had hit her forehead on the dashboard, she could have severed her cervical spine at a high enough level to paralyze all her chest muscles resulting in hypoxia that led to a cardiac arrest by the time they had her out of the car.

If she had hit her chest on the dashboard, she could have ruptured her aorta, left ventricle or pulmonary vein (what killed Princess Diana) leading to immediate asystole.

I could keep going with more scenarios that could have possibly happened and been labeled "heart attack" just because the definition of "heart attack" wasn't always "myocardial infarction" even by those who are in the medical field.

2 hours ago, Orcinus orca said:

They were all remarkably blood free after the C-section, too.

Lizzie's heart was no longer beating. The uterus was not being perfused with blood. That was the rush to do the C-section at the roadside. If they are tried to move her anywhere, the lack of blood circulating would have caused the baby to become too hypoxic to save.

[kaygeeret]

Thank you all for the medical clarifications.  Also many thanks for the list of cuts.  They really helped for this episode as already noted.

One small observation re: the wedding dress.  I was in 4 weddings in the later 1960's - 1965-1969.  Every bride wore a similar dress.

Granted this was in the US, but I do think a smaller skirt and a plainer material were the norm - at least in my memory.  Also Trixie's style of neckline was very common.  Not a lot of lace back in my day and in my neck of the woods (upper midwest).

[iMonrey]

Quote

Didn't Dr. Turner say something about a head injury that probably killed Lizzie instantly? If so, CPR wouldn't have done any good.

He didn't know, he said she might have had a heart attack.

[Nialla]

6 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Does anyone know, when the season goes over to Netflix, is it the edited episodes or the complete ones?

The only unedited one we get in the US is the Christmas special. What PBS airs is what's on Netflix.

The DVDs are the full UK episodes. If you don't want to buy them, check to see I your local library has them.

[howiveaddict]

9 hours ago, eel21788 said:

I kept thinking "we just had a childhood leukemia story last week, so it won't be that."

Would they go for an aplastic anemia story so soon after leukemia?

It could just be nose bleeds. My daughter had a lot of them growing up. The nasal mucus is thin and bleeds easily.  Hubby used to get them a lot also, including when we were first married.  He even had his nose cauterized before.

[Shermie]

14 hours ago, Daff said:

what possible means of storage would they have a that time to have it last that long?

They had freezers in the 1960s.

13 hours ago, Blackie said:

Another thing that seemed interesting/different was that Colette and Nancy walked in behind the bride.  Was that the style then?  

That’s more of a British (maybe European) thing. Bridesmaids are usually younger (teens and girls), not grown women and they walk after the bride. Think of Diana’s entourage of girls at her wedding.

I noticed the bystanders immediately pulled the woman out of the car after the accident, something you’re not supposed to do in case there’s a spine or neck injury. But I guess they didn’t know that back then.

 

Every time Shelagh talks, she sounds so fretful. She is rarely relaxed or witty or calm; she’s constantly fraught.

The nosebleed thing with Collette was weird. Did it mean something? Will we find out next year? 

I thought Trixie looked beautiful, but I thought all the wedding problems were overdone. Plus, someone piles on by saying, “And look, now it’s raining” and we cut to the next scene with characters outside in the sunshine. The whole “everyone pulls together at the last minute to create a Stars Hollow-esque atmosphere in poverty-stricken Poplar” was a bit much. Like these people are all just sitting around with food trucks and fairy lights, waiting for their favourite midwife (who didn’t invite them to her wedding) to need them for an impromptu street party.

Ah well, this show is my cozy comfort food of tv. I watch every episode and miss it when it’s gone for most of the year.

[Badger]

The wedding was on the other side of London, so it's possible the weather was different in the East End. 

Regarding Matthew buying Nonnatus House, I thought that Sr. Julienne devised a plan to restart the student nurse program, and she asked Cyril and Matthew to help.  Once Cyril said the building was structurally sound, she asked Matthew to buy it

When Trixie said it was her last night as a bachelor girl, Geoffrey said that some of us stay true to that calling all our lives.  

 

 

[DonnaMae]

On 5/7/2023 at 6:07 PM, Straycat80 said:

I loved the ending when everyone in Poplar came together and put together the wedding reception. 

Yes, that was a nice scene, but how did they get that together so quickly?  Did they save that tiered cake from the hotel?

Why did Shelagh and Dr. Turner have to go home and change?  I didn't see a spot of blood on them.  I was surprised that they both had another set of very dressy clothes.

[DonnaMae]

On 5/8/2023 at 3:22 AM, libgirl2 said:

Those nosebleeds had me worried that something was going to happen.

We don't need another child with leukemia.  Nose bleeds is one of the symptoms.

[libgirl2]

2 minutes ago, DonnaMae said:

We don't need another child with leukemia.  Nose bleeds is one of the symptoms.

No argument from me. 

[proserpina65]

21 hours ago, LtKelley said:

I definitely wouldn't want her back on the show but it would have been nice to see SOMEONE other than Nancy and Phyllis out of the many past midwives show up. 

I imagine they're all busy with lives and jobs, many of them far away from Poplar now.

21 hours ago, jschoolgirl said:

Or at least read a card or telegram from one or hopefully more of them! That wouldn’t cost them anything.

This idea makes sense.

[caitmcg]

22 minutes ago, DonnaMae said:

Yes, that was a nice scene, but how did they get that together so quickly?  Did they save that tiered cake from the hotel?

We saw Sr Veronica exasperatedly say that the cake was wrongly delivered to Nonnatus House, as well as the flowers, so the cake was already in Poplar. (The chances of this actually happening — wedding accoutrements delivered to a random address across town rather than to a posh hotel in Chelsea — seem rather slim, but that wouldn’t serve the story.)

[AZChristian]

Just now, caitmcg said:

We saw Sr Veronica exasperatedly say that the cake was wrongly delivered to Nonnatus House, as well as the flowers, so the cake was already in Poplar. (The chances of this actually happening — wedding accoutrements delivered to a random address across town rather than to a posh hotel in Chelsea — seem rather slim, but that wouldn’t serve the story.)

I agree that it wouldn't be usual for the accoutrements to be delivered to the wrong place, but it wasn't really a random address.  The bride lived there.

[proserpina65]

29 minutes ago, DonnaMae said:

Did they save that tiered cake from the hotel?

The cake had been delivered to the wrong address so maybe they hadn't shifted it to the hotel before the fire started.  There certainly wouldn't have been any point in doing it after.

31 minutes ago, DonnaMae said:

Why did Shelagh and Dr. Turner have to go home and change?  I didn't see a spot of blood on them.  I was surprised that they both had another set of very dressy clothes.

There was some blood on both of them.  Not a lot, but enough to be noticeable at a wedding.

[jschoolgirl]

1 hour ago, DonnaMae said:

Yes, that was a nice scene, but how did they get that together so quickly?  Did they save that tiered cake from the hotel?

Why did Shelagh and Dr. Turner have to go home and change?  I didn't see a spot of blood on them.  I was surprised that they both had another set of very dressy clothes.

It was a much dressier era. Upper middle class women like Shelagh would likely be able to change into another suitable outfit. But you are right about Patrick. I doubt he would have more than one morning suit.

[Daff]

17 hours ago, Shermie said:

They had freezers in the 1960s

So did I. A one cubic foot metal box inside the fridge, that rarely closed well because the fridge always needed to be shut down and defrosted (usually weekly, at which time, anything in there needed to be consumed).  Any frozen food purchased at the store thawed within a day or two, ice cream turned to soup, and it barely made ice cubes (in metal trays, with a lever handle to louvre the cubes loose). 
Addition- the lack of an adequate freezer in my youth, coupled with only regionally available fresh vegetables at the market made me the carnivore I am today. From the time I began buying my own food, I have rarely purchased a canned vegetable (excluding fruits that identify as veg). 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Daff

[DonnaMae]

14 hours ago, Shermie said:

Every time Shelagh talks, she sounds so fretful. She is rarely relaxed or witty or calm; she’s constantly fraught.

Yes, she's always like that, even during happy times. 🙄

[eel21788]

1 hour ago, DonnaMae said:

Why did Shelagh and Dr. Turner have to go home and change?  I didn't see a spot of blood on them.  I was surprised that they both had another set of very dressy clothes.

They'd been kneeling on the road that was probably covered in broken glass. Even without a lot of blood, their clothes were probably not clean enough to be considered presentable for a wedding. Just think what that would have done to Shelagh's stockings.

[eel21788]

15 hours ago, howiveaddict said:

It could just be nose bleeds. 

Would this show go for such a simple ailment that is mostly just an inconvenience, not something to hover over the brink of the abyss? Where would be the drama in that?

[eel21788]

22 hours ago, Orcinus orca said:

 I suppose that, without seatbelts, it's possible to sustain a fatal head injury at a low speed but pretty unlikely in my experience (neuro ICU nurse).

Were you working back in the days before we had seatbelts, a shoulder harness, airbags, retractable bumpers, crush resistant frames, shatter-resistant windshields, and such? We've come a long way in decreasing the severity of injuries just with the design of the car alone.

Sammy Davis Jr lost his eye just because of the way a Cadillac convertible's steering wheel was designed with the horn being cone shaped and pointed. Cadillac redesigned it because of him.

Edited May 9, 2023 by eel21788

[natyxg]

What a dumb car accident. What the hell?

I found the wedding underwhelming. Like it was trying very hard to be many things, but it all felt superficial and not truly emotive. I wanted to feel happier for Trixie than I did. Maybe it's the Matthew effect, I don't know.

[Straycat80]

4 hours ago, DonnaMae said:

Yes, that was a nice scene, but how did they get that together so quickly?  Did they save that tiered cake from the hotel?

Why did Shelagh and Dr. Turner have to go home and change?  I didn't see a spot of blood on them.  I was surprised that they both had another set of very dressy clothes.

The cake was already there. 
I used to work in surgery and trust me C-Sections are messy! There’s no way Dr. Turner did not have any blood on him. Sheilagh looked like she only had a small spot of blood by her shoulder. Maybe they didn’t want the audience grossed out by a lot of blood even though they did show quite a lot of blood pouring out of Collette’s nose. 

[Mermaid Under]

Quote

Question - Does anyone know the story behind the Wedding Prayer?  It seems utterly unlike Treasure Island or Kidnapped, to say the least.  My Google powers have failed me, and I cannot find the circumstances for which it was written ( a wedding obviously, but whose?) or in which volume of Stevenson's work it lives.

I apologize for quoting myself, but I sent this question to the library of congress.  Perhaps my faith in librarians is misplaced, but I pay taxes, why not?

My faith in librarians remains unshaken.

The poem/prayer you mention was one of fourteen such poems written by Robert Louis Stevenson during the period when he lived in Samoa with his family. The poems were published as a separate collection titled Prayers Written at Vailima (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1904). This collection is freely available online through the Library of Congress website at https://www.loc.gov/item/04008690/.

The book, published after Stevenson's death, includes an introduction by his wife, which I encourage you to read as it gives insight into the inspiration behind these poems.

The poem often described as a "Wedding Prayer" begins on page 1 and is not titled "Wedding Prayer," but instead is a prayer "For Success."

Edited May 13, 2023 by Mermaid Under

[SusieQ]

What I found when I used Google:

 

https://internetpoem.com/robert-louis-stevenson/wedding-prayer-poem/

[Daff]

23 hours ago, Orcinus orca said:

I suppose that, without seatbelts, it's possible to sustain a fatal head injury at a low speed

 

2 hours ago, eel21788 said:

Were you working back in the days before we had seatbelts, a shoulder harness, airbags, retractable bumpers, crush resistant frames, shatter-resistant windshields, and such? We've come a long way in decreasing the severity of injuries just with the design of the car alone.

Sammy Davis Jr lost his eye just because of the way a Cadillac convertible's steering wheel was designed with the horn being cone shaped and pointed. Cadillac redesigned it because of him.

They did show the husband careening around the corner in his excitement. Even at 30mph, “slow” by our standards, sudden deceleration is typically the main cause of traumatic injury. Yes, she was propelled forward, hit her head on the windshield, but I’m pretty positive that she sustained a spinal injury because of that. Today, she would have been extricated using methods intended to maintain spinal integrity. Think moving object (head, torso) meets immovable object (windscreen), result: major trauma (every time).

[kwnyc]

Did we even see what he hit? Or did another car hit him?

[Daff]

39 minutes ago, kwnyc said:

Did we even see what he hit? Or did another car hit him?

Solid brick, I think. It looked like he went around the corner, encountered a crowded street, veered off to avoid pedestrians and vehicles. He may have panicked and hit the accelerator instead of the brake as well.

Another thought I had regarding sudden deceleration injuries is that often, a hidden injury occurs in the opposite side of the brain from the impact (contre cou lesion). In this case, her brain stem may have been injured, with little to no possibility of recovery.

[JudyObscure]

1 hour ago, Daff said:

Solid brick, I think. It looked like he went around the corner, encountered a crowded street, veered off to avoid pedestrians and vehicles.

Every time they have shown anyone driving through Poplar, I've held my breath.  They all go too fast through streets full of pedestrians.

[eel21788]

1 hour ago, Daff said:

Solid brick, I think. It looked like he went around the corner, encountered a crowded street, veered off to avoid pedestrians and vehicles. He may have panicked and hit the accelerator instead of the brake as well.

Another thought I had regarding sudden deceleration injuries is that often, a hidden injury occurs in the opposite side of the brain from the impact (contre cou lesion). In this case, her brain stem may have been injured, with little to no possibility of recovery.

In addition to designing cars to decrease injuries, roads have also been designed to decrease injuries as well. "Forgivable surfaces" that absorb some of the impact or slow the deceleration of the car have also made accidents less lethal.

Back to Princess Diana, the tunnel she was in was designed at least a century ago. It didn't have forgivable surfaces, and Henri Paul hit a solid brick pillar. It has been speculated that if there at been a guardrail through the tunnel to slow the deceleration of the car, it would have been a survivable accident. The sudden impact of hitting her chest on the seat in front of her tore her pulmonary vein and the rest is history.

Edited May 10, 2023 by eel21788

[dubbel zout]

Had she been wearing a seatbelt, she might have survived. I don't think Lizzie and her husband were wearing seatbelts (if the car even had them). I have no problem believing the crash was fatal for her.

[eel21788]

Just now, dubbel zout said:

Had she been wearing a seatbelt, she might have survived.

I'm 100% sure that if she had been using a seatbelt with shoulder harness, she would still be alive today.

[Daff]

7 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

Had she been wearing a seatbelt, she might have survived. I don't think Lizzie and her husband were wearing seatbelts (if the car even had them). I have no problem believing the crash was fatal for her.

 

 

6 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

I'm 100% sure that if she had been using a seatbelt with shoulder harness, she would still be alive today.

Can’t really imagine stretching the belt over (under, to catch only the hips) the baby bulge. However, a shoulder strap addition would definitely have squashed that belly. Don’t pregnant women tuck the shoulder part under the arm when they’re that close to delivery?

[eel21788]

9 minutes ago, Daff said:

Can’t really imagine stretching the belt over (under, to catch only the hips) the baby bulge. However, a shoulder strap addition would definitely have squashed that belly. Don’t pregnant women tuck the shoulder part under the arm when they’re that close to delivery?

I was referring to Princess Diana surviving her accident.

As for Lizzie, she would have had a better chance of surviving the accident with a seatbelt and shoulder harness, but it would also risk injuring the fetus instead.

In know there are some OB/Gyn doctors who recommend that mothers avoid traveling in cars as much as possible during the last trimester due to this.

[Notabug]

On 5/9/2023 at 4:49 PM, Straycat80 said:

The cake was already there. 
I used to work in surgery and trust me C-Sections are messy! There’s no way Dr. Turner did not have any blood on him. Sheilagh looked like she only had a small spot of blood by her shoulder. Maybe they didn’t want the audience grossed out by a lot of blood even though they did show quite a lot of blood pouring out of Collette’s nose. 

As noted above, Lizzie's heart wasn't beating, no one was doing CPR on her.  Since her heart wasn't propelling it through her circulatory system, there would not be any massive  bleeding.    There would've been some  oozing or leaking from the vessels as the Doctor cut through them, but not the bloody mess that you'd  see if her heart was still pumping.  I've never done a perimortem cesarean, but i've seen a couple and the lack of blood in the operative field is kinda spooky.

5 hours ago, eel21788 said:

I was referring to Princess Diana surviving her accident.

As for Lizzie, she would have had a better chance of surviving the accident with a seatbelt and shoulder harness, but it would also risk injuring the fetus instead.

In know there are some OB/Gyn doctors who recommend that mothers avoid traveling in cars as much as possible during the last trimester due to this.

There are many, many studies on seatbelt use in pregnancy and, as long as the lap part of the belt is under the uterus, it poses virtually no risk to the baby.  In fact, if the accident is bad enough for the seat belt to injure the baby, it is bad enough that an unrestrained mother would likely die from the force of the crash..  Both seatbelts and airbags can and should be used in pregnancy.  The shoulder strap doesn't seem to cause abdominal trauma, more shoulder/chest bruising and works better than a lap belt alone and should be used.

The American Congress of OB/GYN has issued multiple statements on this issue.  I've practiced OB/GYN for 40+ years and I have never ever heard of a doctor telling an expectant mother not to travel in the last trimester due to the risk of seatbelt injury ever.  There can be other reasons to recommend against long car trips, but not seatbelt issues.

https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/car-safety-for-pregnant-women-babies-and-children

Edited May 11, 2023 by Notabug

[kwnyc]

3 hours ago, Notabug said:

There are many, many studies on seatbelt use in pregnancy and, as long as the lap part of the belt is under the uterus, it poses virtually no risk to the baby. 

Now you've got me thinking about that 9-1-1 episode where a pregnant woman was on her way to the hospital and the car was struck by lightning or something and the baby POPPED out, and they had to find the baby, cut the cord, and get the woman out of the crushed car! Oh, and Buck got struck by lightning and died, but only for 3 minutes, and it turned him into a math genius. 

Edited May 11, 2023 by kwnyc