Salome was the midwife there when Mary gave birth to Jesus, there is a record of her in the Bible but most people have never heard mention of her. Her role in the village was tending to and caring for the women of ancient Bethlehem. 

With herbs and wisdom she supports all the labouring women. Including one night when a family arrived in labour. A family that would change the course of history. 
If Mary and Joseph made it to Bethlehem, as the famous story portrays, then rather than birthing alone, the local midwife would have been called. In Jewish tradition surrounding childbirth, once women have had a show, their waters break, or contraction pain becomes regular, they are considered in a state of “yoledet” and must be separated from men. There cannot be physical contact with a male except in a case of emergency. 

If Mary had given birth on the road, Joseph would have been able to support her, but as they made it to the town, it would not be considered appropriate for him to care for her there. The stable, far from being star lit and isolated on a hillside, was more likely the room that most houses had for keeping animals safe.  

The Bible records the midwife present at the birth of Jesus as being Salome – who, whilst forgotten entirely in the school nativity, appears to have been venerated as a follower of Jesus and a holy person in her own right in the years following his death. In her recently discovered tomb, small oil lamps were found, which would have been brought as offerings just as candles are lit in church. There is a Salome reported to have been present at the crucifixion. It is so often overlooked that women were there at the beginning, and at the end.

Read a beautiful book and open your heart and your mind to a familiar story in a whole new light.