Midwife Detective

I recently finished reading The Midwife's Tale by Sam Thomas, and it was a good story. I thought his descriptions of the midwife's activities might be insightful since lovely Renata in book 3 of our series will be apprenticed to a midwife. The time periods and the cultural background between the two differ, but the job, I believe, remains pretty much the same. What was most curious to me was the multiple roles played by a licensed midwife. First, she was helper, healer and educator to the pregnant woman. She not only delivered the baby but also provided pre-natal care and then taught the mother how to nurse and care for the child during the first few months. Second, the midwife, had a role in the baptism of the child. The mother, being confined to her home for 40 days after birth, could not attend the child's baptism, so the midwife carried the child to the church and told the priest what it's name would be. Of course, she likely consulted with the family about that. Thirdly, the midwife was an agent of the crown, at least in 1600's England, because it was her job to drag the name of the father out of an unwed mother. In fact, she may have refused her services until the name was revealed. Then the government could make the father pay child support so the burden of another mouth to feed did not fall upon the very limited social resources of the time. So midwife as private detective.... Too many cases in which she could not get the father's name and she may have had her license revoked.