Authors Interviewing Their Characters: Patricia Harman

Patricia Harman spent over thirty years caring for women as a midwife, first as a lay-midwife, delivering babies in cabins and on communal farms in West Virginia, and later as a nurse-midwife in teaching hospitals and in a community hospital birthing center.  Though she loved caring for women and infants, she recently retired to write full time. She feels her work as a midwife continues in her books, supporting, informing, teaching about normal birth and inspiring her readers. 

Her books are The Blue Cotton Gown, Arms Wide Open, The Midwife of Hope River, The Reluctant Midwife, Lost on Hope Island: The Amazing Tale of the Little Goat Midwives , The Runaway Midwife. and Once a Midwife, which came out in November 2018.

We asked Patricia if she would be willing to contribute to our Authors Interviewing Their Characters segment, and we were delighted when she said yes!

An interview with Patience Hester, the Midwife Warrior, in Once a Midwife by author Patricia Harman

When the doorbell rang I was surprised. I hadn’t heard a car come across the wooden bridge over the creek.

It was 1942, still early in the war, and when I opened the door against a strong wind, it blew back in my face. A tall woman stood there, older than me by a few decades. Her straight short grey hair was cut almost like a man’s and she was nearly as tall as my husband, Dan Hester, the Hope River veterinarian.

“Hello,” I greeted the lady, glancing down the road for her vehicle and finally spotting it near the barn. It was a blue model I’d never seen before, small and rather boxy. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you drive up, thought maybe you were on foot and had car trouble.”
“No, nothing like that. The Prius is just so quiet; sometimes I actually forget that it’s on.”

Prius, I thought. Never heard of it.
“So, what can I do for you?”

The stranger laughed as she poked her head into my living room
She was starting to irritate me. I had work to do. Bread was rising on the stove. There was a chicken to pluck and a load of wet laundry to run through the wringer.

“I’m Patricia Harman, a midwife and author, and I wanted to interview you for my women readers.”
“Like in a magazine?”
“Well, kind of. It’s online.”

This was all Greek to me, but I asked her in. “Do you mind sitting in the kitchen? I’m baking bread, but I can pour you a cup of tea…so you’re a midwife? I am too?”

“I was,” she said. “For 35 years, I took care of women and delivered babies. I retired so that I could write books about midwives and other things. Can I pose a few questions?”
“Sure, if they aren’t too personal!” I placed a heavy mug of chamomile tea on the table and we both laughed at that.

“Well, first let me ask how you and husband are doing. I know you were having conflicts about his resistance to the draft in World War 2.”
“You know Dan?”
“Me and 100,000 other people who read my books.” She grinned and raised her eyebrows.

Could she be crazy? I really didn’t get her, but if she was a nut she appeared harmless.
“We’re ok. He’s busy at the White Rock POW camp, supervising the German prisoners and teaching them English, so he can’t be home every night, but at least he’s home weekends.”

“Does he like his work?”

“He does. He had a choice… stay incarcerated in the Moundsville State Penitentiary or come home to Union County and work as a conscientious objector in community service. You’d think it would be an easy choice, but he struggled with it.”

“And the children, especially, Danny, your oldest. How’s he adjusting?”

“Well at first he was so angry at his father and hurt too. Other kids were calling him “Son of a Draft Dodger”. He felt ashamed of his father, but I think he’s forgiven him now. Maybe he’s even a little proud that Dan stood up for his convictions…Excuse me, I have to see if my bread is rising.”

“Is it worth it, making your own bread, Patience? Looks like a lot of effort and time, especially since you still cook on a woodstove. You can buy bread at the supermarket, you know, whole wheat organic for only $4.00 a loaf.”

I looked at her funny and almost laughed. “Bread, even with the wartime shortages, is only 9 cents at Bittman’s. We don’t have a supermarket in Liberty, that’s for the big city folks.” She was beginning to get on my nerves and I guess she sensed it.
“Just one more question and I’ll get out of your hair.”
“Shoot.”
“How are your homebirth deliveries going? Have you had any more patients come to your little birthing home, the Baby Cabin.”

Here, I cheered up. “I forgot you said you used to be a midwife. Yes, things have picked up since mothers began to get sick of being drugged and tied down in the hospital. Do you know the book, Childbirth without Fear by Grantly Dick Reed? It’s stirring women up.”

“Sure. I read it 50 years ago.” Now I knew she was nuts…or maybe just senile.

The lady closed her notepad and stood up. “I loved delivering babies… to see the joy, to hear the baby’s first cry. It’s the sun rising on a new day.”

“In these times of war. We need that joy, don’t you think,” I said, shuffling her out of the kitchen. “There is so much hate and sadness. It’s good to be reminded that there’s always hope.”

I nudged the tall woman with the gray-white hair toward the door. “What did you say your name was, Ma’am? I’m sorry, I missed it.”
“Patricia Harman, midwife and author. Let me give you a hug.”

—

Find out more about Patricia and her books on her website www.patriciaharman.com

About ONCE A MIDWIFE

The women of Hope River trust midwife Patience Hester, whose skill in delivering babies is known for miles around. But though the Great Depression is behind them, troubles are not, for Europe is at war…and it can only be a matter of time before the U.S. enters the fray.

And while some are eager to join the fight, Patience’s husband, Daniel, is not. Daniel is a patriot—but he saw too much bloodshed during the First World War, and has vowed never to take up arms again.

His stance leaves Patience and their four children vulnerable—to the neighbors who might judge them, and to the government, who imprison Daniel for his beliefs.

Patience must support their family and fight for her husband’s release despite her own misgivings. And with need greater than ever, she must also keep her practice running during this tumultuous time…relying on generous friends, like Bitsy, who has returned to Hope River, stalwart neighbors, and her own indomitable strength to see them all through.

 

 

 

Tags: featured, Interviews

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, Interviews, On Writing