Cathy grinned from her superior height. ‘Poor baby. No lunch again? Have two.’ She smiled down at Noni. ‘They might make you grow.’
Noni poked and carefully chose two soft-centre chocolates, then grinned up at the taller girl. ‘Well, you’d better not have any, then.’
‘Touché. You missed the ward meeting.’ Cathy handed over a copy of the minutes. ‘If we lose our jobs, you might wish you’d claimed overtime.’
The smile slipped from Noni’s face. ‘We are not shutting Burra’s birthing unit. There has to be a locum somewhere. The Riverina is a haven to live in.’
‘Obstetricians want cities, not towns, my friend. And their wives want bright lights and private schools for their kids.’ Cathy shook her head. ‘It’s not over yet. Dr Soams said there’s a chance of a temporary guy doing emergency calls for the next few weeks, but it didn’t sound promising. There’s another meeting with the board in a fortnight. Which reminds me, when are you going to let Harley come and have a sleepover? Nathan keeps asking. He’ll be fine with us, you know.’
‘I know. Soon.’ As soon as she could bear to let him. She would. ‘Honest.’ Noni looked at her watch and grimaced. ‘Damn. I’ve got antenatal classes tonight. Second night so better not be late, and Harley’s Kanga cricket training starts in twenty minutes. Kylie will give you a buzz when she’s ready for a shower. Catch you later, Cath.’
She grabbed her bag from her locker and took off out the door in a half-run. Harley wouldn’t be happy with her if he was late.
Chapter Eleven
Jacinta
‘Hello, everyone. Welcome to week two. Tonight, we’re going to go through the anatomy and physiology of labour and later the dietician is going to come in and talk to you about any dietary concerns you may have.’
Jacinta eased her aching back and watched Noni move around the room, avoiding the way her father gazed and smiled at her. Jacinta wasn’t sure if Noni hated him or found him attractive. Either way, it was weird to be in the middle of whatever strange dance they were doing.
‘We’ll also watch a YouTube video of a normal labour,’ Noni went on, as if a great treat lay on offer and Jacinta stifled another sigh. ‘This clip is set in the Netherlands and the woman has chosen to have a home birth with a midwife as her carer. If you decide to birth at home, under your own steam, there isn’t the option of medicated pain relief, but water and positioning along with good support carries you through.’
Jacinta shifted in her seat, and when she looked around she decided a few other girls looked as horrified as she felt. She’d seen her mother die in a hospital having a baby. But at least she’d had people trying to save her.
‘Home birth is accepted practice overseas. It’s gaining momentum in Australia with the new government-funded homebirth initiatives now an option around the larger centres,’ Noni carried on. ‘Continuity of care with your chosen midwife has robust research for improving outcomes for mothers and babies. Maybe one day we’ll have it here in Burra.’
Jacinta thought of the worst night of her life and shuddered as Noni passed the plastic pelvis around the room. Jacinta handed it quickly on, and with a sick fascination watched it make its way back to the front.
Noni showed the little doll. ‘See the increased space in the pelvis for the baby to pass through if you stay upright instead of lying back on the bed?’
Jacinta didn’t want to think about labour. She didn’t actually put her fingers in her ears, but her mind chanted lah, lah, lah, lah, as she tried to drown out the words. Noni meticulously described the mechanics of labour, and Jacinta wished she’d missed this night.
‘So, my advice is to stay off the bed, ladies.’
Her father’s light tone jerked her out of her introspection. ‘What’s the bed for, then? You’ll have people hanging off light-shades if you keep this up.’
Noni’s gaze turned to him and her eyes opened wide. Jacinta had to smile at Noni’s expression. It reminded her of Harley’s face just as he went to hit the ball with his cricket bat. Iain was going to get it. Big time.
‘The use of the bed? Why … mostly, for putting your suitcase on, of course.’
Iain inclined his head at the circle of laughing faces and Jacinta felt her own lips twitch. Good answer, Noni.
Of course Iain wasn’t finished. He opened his hands as if saying, I’m a reasonable man. ‘I can see how squatting could help, but what about the fact that these days, in our society, a large percentage of the population aren’t practised in squatting? I’m not sure how long a woman could take that position.’
It was like watching ping-pong. Back and forth, back and forth. They made Jacinta’s head swim, but at least they were distracting her from her memories and to her relief, the swirling images began to retreat.
Noni wasn’t fazed. She could give as good as she got, and some of the other participants sat forward as they watched the match. ‘That’s why we have bathrooms. A toilet offers the perfect position for those of us without the benefit of iron calves to push in labour. Sling a towel across the bowl to allay any fears, mum is supported in a familiar position, and gravity is pointing in the right direction for the descent of the baby. Birthing balls to sit on are great, too.’
Noni shifted to the edge of her seat and mimed concentration in pushing, and Jacinta couldn’t help admiring her lack of self-consciousness. No way would she do something like that in front of a room full of people.
But she couldn’t help thinking that her father had a point. When do women having babies actually get onto the bed? Iain must have read her mind because he asked, ‘Do you have many babies born on the toilet?’
Noni narrowed her eyes, but the silky voice stayed innocent. ‘No, but we do have far fewer epidurals, less Syntocinon drips, our caesarean rate is low, and forceps deliveries are very rare.’ She pursed her lips and glanced innocently at the ceiling. ‘Nope, and I can’t remember the last episiotomy.’
Jacinta looked sideways. Iain’s lips were pressed together as if holding back a smile, and Jacinta wondered about the strangeness of being here. They’d only been living at the guesthouse for a week and she felt as if she’d known Noni and Win for years. Which was a heck of a lot longer than she felt she’d known the man beside her doing his best to flirt with the instructor. Was he a player? Funny, she hadn’t thought that before, even though she’d seen how women acted around him.
If this were Sydney, she wondered if he’d be pushing hard to score with Noni. But with a divorce and a daughter he hadn’t known about, heck, Noni should stay right away from the disaster of her father’s love-life. Jacinta hoped she would. She liked Noni too much to see her get hurt or be used by him.
Noni laughed at something he’d said that Jacinta had missed, and glanced at her dad. Now, she was doing it back. Spare me, Jacinta thought, and when he turned to her she glared at him and whispered, ‘Stop flirting with Noni. You’re embarrassing me.’ He flinched. That’s right, Jacinta thought. You’ve already failed two women with the worst possible results. Do you need another casualty on your slate?
During a lull in the classroom noise Noni said, ‘Before we go any further, has anyone got any questions they’d like to ask?’
Jacinta surprised herself and put up her hand.
Chapter Twelve
Noni
Noni saw that Jacinta’s movement had caught her father’s attention and made him refocus on the room. He’d been scowling at the floor before this, and now she knew where his daughter had inherited her ferocious expression. Funny how she could pick when she’d lost his attention, and how she knew when it had returned.
She’d become far too intuitive about Mr Iain McCloud. Jacinta’s voice broke into her thoughts and she vowed not to let Iain distract her again. ‘Last week, you mentioned the bag of waters and that they sometimes break before you go into labour or during labour.’
Noni nodded.
‘What happens if they don’t break?’ the girl asked cautiously.
Noni smiled. She wanted people to think. To consider what to look for and what could be different in their own labour. ‘That’s a great question, Jacinta. Sometimes, the bag of waters doesn’t break at all. Or, earlier in labour, sometimes the doctor asks if you want him to break your waters to help the labour along.’ Noni looked around the room. ‘This is another example of informed choice.’
‘Spare me.’ The words were quietly spoken, but Noni heard them. She blinked and opened her eyes wide, but he appeared fascinated with the ceiling. ‘You have a problem, Iain?’
‘No.’ His answer was short.
Then keep quiet, she ordered silently. Noni proceeded to ignore him.
‘A midwifery tutor once told me, “The membranes are baby’s best protection before birth.” I believe intact membranes can offer fluid-filled protection, with the wedge of membrane against the cervix lessening the sharpness of bony head against the cervix with dilatation. It can also protect the cord from compression. So, think about that choice if someone suggests it would be quicker if your waters were broken. Do you need to be that fraction quicker at the expense of feeling more of baby’s head hard against the cervix? Does the baby’s cord need to lose its cushion of safety that might just be stopping that cord from being compressed against your pelvic bones? Should that bag be broken before nature decides the time is right?’
She noted Iain’s frown, before carrying on. ‘Sometimes, but rarely, the baby is born while the amniotic sac stays intact. Keeping in mind that a baby will not open its glottis – that is, breathe in – until the face is exposed to air pressure, then the mother or midwife would break the membrane to allow the baby to start life outside the womb. The clever glottis is why they don’t breathe under water in waterbirth. The old wives’ tale is that any baby born within the caul will never drown.’ She loved this bit. ‘The first midwives used to save and dry cauls and sell them to sailors to keep on their person while at sea.’
She was unsurprised when Iain rolled his eyes. ‘And they wondered why people burned them as witches.’
The men in the class chuckled.
Noni let them have their laugh, secure in her own beliefs. She smiled at Jacinta. ‘Another one of my hobbyhorses, I’m afraid, Jaz. But I’ll move on.’
The class went well and Jacinta asked another two perceptive questions about labour.
Noni decided that Iain enjoyed being a pain, but she noted her own satisfaction and a certain excitement in keeping ahead of him. He obviously knew a bit about childbirth, even though, as far as she knew, he’d never been present at a birth. She wondered about that and assumed he’d read a lot or talked about it with friends. Either way, she could handle his basic knowledge.
Noni felt quite positive about the group as she closed the windows at the end.
‘We’ll wait to see you lock up before we leave.’ Iain’s voice made her jump and she turned around slowly to face him.
‘Thanks, but I’m fine. I do it every week.’
‘I’m sure you do. We’ll wait nonetheless.’ He turned and sauntered out into the foyer.
‘Condescending.’ She slammed down the next window and flicked the lock across, thinking, What does he think I am? Some wimp afraid of the dark?
The logical side of her brain disagreed: What are you getting so uptight about? You know you hate it when the lights are out and you have to walk across the deserted parking area.
She turned off the fan and had a last glance around the room.
They were waiting outside for her. ‘Thank you.’ That didn’t sound gracious, she chided herself. Jacinta scowled at her and she scowled back.
Iain smiled. ‘Well, that was fun. Goodnight.’
‘Smart alec,’ she muttered.
Then she heard his voice drift back across the parking area. ‘I have sonic ears.’
Noni gunned the motor on the bike and decided to go for a ride. Blow away some of the unexpected irritation that had bubbled up at the end before she felt confined to the house for the night. She carried a torch if she needed it, and if she drove down to the river she could at least look at the moon and drink in the serenity.
The bank of the river lay deserted, crickets chirped, and now that she’d arrived, she really didn’t want to get off the bike, but the moonlight called her.
Ha. He’d say it was a dumb thing to do, leaving her bike unattended to go down to the river. But she made her way to the water. When she leaned against the tree and looked at the moon she started to think of the snakes and spiders that could be collected in the piles of flotsam left from the last flood. Or in the branches above her head. All of which made the idea not so attractive.
Noni walked back to the bike. Why should it matter if Iain irritated her? She climbed onto her bike and to her horror it started to tip sideways in the uneven soil, beginning an inevitable slide. She strained and held it for a moment but recognised the losing battle. She had to smartly pull her leg out of the way before it was caught underneath. Hell.
Noni swore again and reached over to switch off the petrol. She sat down beside her bike on the edge of the grass, well aware from past experience that the bike was too heavy for her to lift once gravity had it.
She reached for her mobile phone. Aunt Win insisted she took it with her. Good old Aunt Win.
‘Hi, it’s me,’ she said when her aunt picked up. ‘I’m fine. Is Iain there?’ She listened for a moment. ‘Oh. Penelope is there? No. It’s fine. Don’t worry.’ She heard the sound of other voices and then Iain came on.
‘Where are you?’
She lay back on the grass beside the road with the phone against her ear. ‘At the swimming hole down by the creek looking at the moon.’ She moved the phone away from her ear as he raised his voice. When he stopped, she put it back to her ear.
‘No, I’m alone. If you aren’t too busy, could you come and help me lift up my bike?’ She moved the phone away from her ear again as the volume increased. Her lips twitched.
‘No, I haven’t had an accident. I didn’t put the stand up properly and it fell over. I’m not strong enough to lift it back up.’ Her grin faded and she pulled the phone away from her ear and glared at it.
‘Don’t call me Superwoman, and don’t bother coming. I’ll ring someone else.’ She jabbed the talk button to cut him off.
It took him four minutes to get there. With Machiavellian nastiness, he’d brought Penelope. Round one to him.
‘Oh, dear, Noni,’ Penelope said, immaculately groomed as usual, all saccharine and good sense. ‘I always thought that bike too dangerous for a woman. You really should get a sensible vehicle.’
Iain said nothing and Noni gritted her teeth. He strode over to the bike and reached down. Both women watched the muscles in his arms hardening as if accustomed to the application of weights. Iain easily stood the bike up. Their eyes clashed.
‘Noni’s lucky she had you to call, Iain.’
‘Mmm.’ He looked at Noni and she ignored the amusement there.
She picked up her helmet, nodded, and smiled sweetly at Penelope’s sympathy. ‘Thank you for lifting my bike, Iain.’ She put effort into being very polite. ‘I’ll see you at home, then.’ She pulled on the helmet, switched the petrol back on, and started the bike. Then snarled bad words all the way back in the dark.
The rest of the week continued in the same vein. Petty irritations, a very busy time on the ward, and the uneasiness she seemed to feel whenever Iain McCloud entered her orbit. Noni intensely disliked not feeling her usual calm and competent self.
Avoidance did help and she tried to see as little of the lodgers between shifts as she could. Jacinta became less prickly and the first seeds of trust and friendship between the guests and their hosts began to flourish and spread rapidly. Jacinta was settling in nicely, and Noni was quite happy to proceed at the younger girl’s pace.
To Iain, she remained very polite.
On Friday, after handing over to the new shift, Noni overheard Dr Soams speaking to the charge sister.
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‘I’m tired. We need another qualified obstetrician full time. I can’t carry this load much longer. The hospital had better step up their advertisements or they’ll have to shut the birthing.’
Noni listened with deepening despair. They had a wonderful unit, caring midwives and a caring doctor, and they provided a marvellous service to the community in the town the women wanted their babies born in. Planning a midwifery-led unit that could run low-risk births without medical support was a great idea, but it took time to set up and then establish. If the birthing stopped they’d be pushing uphill to get it open again. They needed at least a short-term solution, urgently.
Noni imagined all the women having to go away to the local base hospital to have their babies and sighed. It would cause tremendous distress, not to mention the financial hardship on relatives travelling the hundred kilometres each way. There had to be a way to keep Burra open for births.
She roared into the driveway after work and could see Iain out in the yard, bowling a cricket ball to Harley. That was good of him. She craned her neck to see the shot her son played just before she lost sight. She jammed the bike into its slot, glanced grimly at the time, but stopped anyway to lean against the side of the house to observe. She could see Harley’s concentration, his little tongue poking out, as he watched the flight of the ball.
Whack! It went sailing over Iain’s head and landed in the fishpond.
Harley whooped with pride and Iain went over and clapped him on the back. They had their heads together, and inexplicably Noni felt left out. Again. Maybe it didn’t matter how hard she tried. Maybe Harley needed a dad to do boy things with. Secret men’s business.
‘It hurts when someone lets you down, you know.’ Jacinta’s voice spoke with a brittle edge behind her and Noni turned slowly around. She suspected the girl would be glowering. Yep.
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