“Do many of the mothers understand that?”

“Oh my God, Cora.” Frazer leant back in her chair heavily, throwing her hands up. “You’ve no idea. You should read some of the birthing plans the parents give me. One wanted to reserve three rooms in case one had bad energy.”

“Like the hospital is a hotel?”

“Exactly.” Frazer shook her head. “I’m all for trying to have a birth plan, especially because it helps a lot of parents feel less anxious. But to ask to be ‘stimulated’ during contractions by the midwife?”

Cora blinked. “Stimulated?”

“Stimulated.”

“As in…”

“As in exactly what you’re thinking.” Frazer chuckled. “Can’t make that up.”

“Wow.”

“Yup. So!” She clapped her hands together and sat up. “Did you have a chance to read through what I e-mailed you?”

“I did. It’s solid.”

For a moment, the carefree look on Frazer’s face darkened. “Apparently not solid enough. But it will be. Any fresh ideas? I’ll take anything—it’s been pretty much me, solo, from the beginning.”

Cora nodded in relief. Sometimes people were precious about their projects. “Well, to start, the mentor programme? This is where your idea shines. It’s what makes it unique. Parents are always sent home with really minimal support afterwards. And that support doesn’t take into account the at-risk parents—the ones who don’t have their own support network, transport to their community nurse, all of that.”

“Exactly!” Frazer’s eyes lit up. She was nodding enthusiastically to everything Cora said.

“Well, let’s pool our resources, like we already planned. Why just use midwives who volunteer as mentors? Let’s source social workers, and even Accident and Emergency nurses—I chatted to some of the girls in A&E and my department and already have a preliminary list of those that are interested.”

“Great! More people power.”

“And…” Cora wasn’t sure Frazer would go for this.

“And?”

Cora took a breath and surged ahead. “What if we used other parents as mentors? People already with kids, who are interested in doing it? Many won’t be, I’m sure, they’re so busy. But we could do a training week, go over expectations. Use them for the lower-risk people, have them involved from the beginning?”

Frazer’s brow furrowed. She leant back against her chair again and stared at Cora.

Twisting her fingers in her lap, Cora shook her head. “It’s probably a bad idea.”

“No, it’s good.”

Cora’s hands stilled. “Really?”

“Yeah. We need the people. If we advertise for people to have the correct checks, even source people with certain degrees, why not? And a training programme…I mean, that will cost money, but if I run it, that decreases the cost a lot.” A slow smile had worked its way onto Frazer’s face. “Like an AA supporter—someone who’s been there.”

“Yeah.”

“To start with, each mentor can have one or two clients.” Frazer was running with Cora’s idea, almost vibrating with energy across the desk. “That way, people with full-time jobs won’t get overwhelmed, and we can see more clearly what’s working and what’s not.”