Conchita Warren was a young mother with 24 children, who was Jennifer Lee's first patient. She is portrayed by Carolina Valdes.
Overview
Originally from Spain, Conchita was brought back to the UK after the Spanish Civil War, by Len Warren who fought in it. Totally and completely enamored by one another, Mr. Warren married Conchita as soon as he arrived back home in London, and every legal obstacle was swept away for them to do so. Conchita was about 14, if not younger, when she had her first child, and over the years she would have 21 other consecutive pregnancies - 24 children all together as Conchita had two sets of twins.
Though all of Conchita's children were born in the UK, Conchita herself does not speak a word of English, neither does her husband speak a word of Spanish. However, their lack of verbal communication does not inhibit their overall communication, nor does it lessen their passion for one another. Conchita's eldest daughter, Maureen, translates for the nurses and midwives who visit.
Though her house is filled to the brim with children and though there is little space for all of them, Conchita is happy with her life, showing hospitality to the nurses and love to all her children.
On her 25th pregnancy, Jenny takes over from Sister Bernadette as the midwife responsible for Conchita and her baby, and at their first meeting, Nurse Lee is utterly stunned by all aspects of Conchita's life. From the close relationship she has with her husband (he stayed with her all throughout the birth of their last daughter), how young she is, and how many children she's had. There are some bumps in the road as Maureen cannot translate everything Jenny says to her mother, and Jenny is worried about pre-eclampsia, though Mr. Warren insists that Sister Bernadette told him that pre-eclampsia is only a risk for first and second pregnancies.
One smoggy morning, weeks before her due date, Conchita trips and falls outside while doing laundry. Because she hit her head and lost consciousness, when she woke up, she was disoriented and dizzy, causing her to fall again, right on her pregnant stomach. A while later, Maureen finds her in the yard, and calls for help.
When Jenny arrives at the house, she finds Mr. Warren in the bedroom with Conchita, trying to keep her still as she writhes and screams with pain. After unsuccessfully trying to time her contractions, Jenny realizes the concussion is preventing Conchita from recognizing her pains are labour pains, and is causing her to become more afraid and less co-operative. Jenny tells Len that he needs to be prepared for the worst.
After screaming and flailing on the bed, Maureen runs up stairs to see what's happening, just in time to see her mother deliver a non-responsive baby boy. Keeping her head, Jenny puts him into a waiting bowl. As Maureen beings to cry, Jenny gently asks her to go downstairs and boil some water for her. As she goes downstairs, Maureen tearfully informs her waiting brothers and sisters that she doesn't know if their mother is alright.
Suddenly Conchita goes lip in her husband's arms, and Jenny sees that she is bleeding very heavily and is going into shock. For a moment, a very weak Conchita regains consciousness, and asks about her baby, to which Len replies "No baby. Not this time, my beautiful".
When a weak little cry breaks through the air, Jenny and Mr. Warren realize the baby is still alive. Jenny quickly goes to wrap the baby up, and is upset that she had not wrapped him up sooner. Because he is premature, he is very tiny and fragile. Maureen arrives back with hot water bottles, and learns that her baby brother is still alive. Conchita once again regains consciousness, and fearfully asks where her baby is. Maureen assures her that the midwife was just drying him off and Jenny hands the infant over to the mother. It is then that Nurse Lee realizes that Conchita is bleeding profusely, and quickly injects her with ergometrin. When the ambulance comes, they determine that the afterbirth did not come away entirely, causing the massive blood loss.
When the last of the placenta comes away, Conchita regains consciousness, and when the doctors try to insist that the premature baby needs to be in hospital, she refuses. Even though her daughter begs her to give the baby to the doctors to bring it to the hospital, Conchita harshly refuses, saying "I'm his hospital, he's my blood".
In the following days, Jenny visits the Warrens to check how the baby is doing. Conchita keeps the baby warm tucked up against her breasts, beneath her dress and feeds him milk with an icing rod dropper every hour. The baby thrives and gains weight steadily.
The last shot of the episode is of Conchita outside in the yard with her newborn, the baby held away from her body, as he is now big and strong enough.