She couldn’t believe her stupid father had managed to cuddle up to Noni. Not that she cared, but surely Noni had better taste. He was just using her, like he’d used her mother, and then he’d go blithely on his way without looking back. And the whole scenario could start again. Another woman missing him while struggling to make ends meet and he lived it up in his fancy apartment.
Why would Noni trust him? He wasn’t trustworthy. Maybe she should tell Win.
After lunch on Sunday, Jacinta stood in the kitchen drinking a glass of water at the sink. Noni and Iain and Harley were out in the yard throwing the ball around. A car pulled up and Win climbed out and waved.
Jacinta felt relieved as she watched Win come in through the front door with her little backpack. It was stupid how glad Jacinta felt at seeing the older woman. Get a grip. She needed to remember she was nobody to these people.
‘Hey, beautiful,’ Win said as she put down her bag and opened her arms. Jacinta hesitated and Win just stepped across and closed the gap between them and hugged her, then let her go. The contact warmed her like a dose of sunshine. ‘You look better every time I see you. How are you and your baby on this fine day?’
Jacinta could feel her cheeks heat at the compliment. Nobody called her beautiful, but you knew Win wouldn’t say it if she didn’t mean it. Maybe she did look okay as a whale. To hide her embarrassment, she put her head down and said, ‘Bored.’
Win laughed and bustled to put the kettle on.
When she looked up Win winked at her. ‘I’ve read about people being bored.’ She shook her head. ‘Never managed it myself. On a day like this, a glorious sunny Sunday, my mother sent us out to play in the mornings and told us we had to be back by the time the sun set.’
Good theory, Jacinta thought, but I wasn’t able to leave my mother alone. She didn’t say that. That wouldn’t have been fair. Jacinta thought of all the times her mother had been almost too weak to walk and Jacinta stayed home with her. That was when she had downloaded the free books, using the internet at the library, and read them on her ebook reader in the corner of her mother’s room. Sometimes out loud, sometimes not. Book after book, all the books her mother remembered from her childhood, and then the classics, and then as she grew older, whatever was on the book charts or recommended somewhere. She read anything and everything free she could get her hands on. But since Iain, she hadn’t picked up a single book. Maybe she should.
Win had assembled the makings of tea and a plate of biscuits while Jacinta had been lost in thought.
Jacinta asked, ‘What did you do on your Sundays, when you were a kid?’
Win waved her hand. ‘We weren’t in town. We were ten miles out of town on a sheep station, with no mobile phones or computers. We wandered all over. Never rang a friend to see if they were home, just walked there or rode my pushbike – without a helmet – and knocked on their door.’ Her eyes twinkled. ‘It didn’t matter how far it was to ride, just on the chance they’d be home. I did a lot of stuff that would be thought way too dangerous these days. But never did I say I was bored.’
Despite herself, Jacinta smiled. Win was like a mother polar bear. Slow-moving, big and cuddly. Everybody’s dream aunt. But she was old. Probably over fifty. Dangerous to Win was probably walking on the railway track. Jacinta had jumped trains, stolen food, learned things her mother would have hated, just to survive. ‘I can’t imagine you doing risky things, Win.’
Win smiled and there was a definite glint of mischief in her eyes. ‘I did some stuff. If I chose to do something hair-raising it would be my fault if I got hurt. If I did something wrong then I had to pay for it. My mother agreed with people if they wanted to chastise me. It’s different nowadays.’ She filled the ancient gold-striped teapot with steaming water and settled the matching lid on it. ‘Tell me about your weekend.’
‘Iain’s flirting with Noni and she’s not complaining.’ The words tumbled out before she could catch them. She sounded like a baby. Her cheeks grew hot, but Win just looked out the window with a smile on her face, before she turned to gaze at Jacinta.
‘How does that make you feel?’ she asked gently.
‘Why should I care?’ Except it was awkward, like she felt now. ‘It’s none of my business.’
Win tilted her head as if thinking. ‘He’s your father. And I think both of them are trying not to be attracted to each other. We’ll just have to sit back and see what happens. They come from two very different worlds.’ She shrugged and let it go, and somehow it did make Jacinta less anxious. ‘How did Harley go at cricket?’
‘They won. I’ve never seen anyone so excited. Noni didn’t get to see the game, because my father asked her to stay home with me.’
Win poured a cup of tea for both of them. ‘It’s good to have a space without the men. There’ll be plenty more cricket games in the future.’
‘What did you do?’
‘We went kayaking again. And wrote another song. That was good, too.’
It was nice talking to Win. So easy. As if she’d known her forever. Jacinta could feel the tension easing from her shoulders. ‘We went to see Aimee and Kylie this morning. They’re both seventeen and don’t have boyfriends. They did Noni’s antenatal class a couple of months ago. Wish they’d been in mine.’
‘Noni’s spoken of them. I know their mothers. They’re nice girls, though both are a little estranged from their families at the moment. It’s good for you to talk to someone your age.’
Talk? She couldn’t seem to stop talking since Win walked through the door. And it felt good. ‘Kylie’s baby is a week old. She’s gorgeous. And Aimee’s due any day now. Kylie’s going to be with her when she goes into labour and they said I could go to help with looking after Kylie’s baby and be a support person, too.’
Win smiled at her. ‘You may have to get up in the middle of the night.’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t sleep much, anyway.’
Chapter Eighteen
Noni
Aimee went into labour early on Thursday morning. Iain wasn’t happy that Jacinta wanted to go, but he’d agreed to take her to the hospital if she was needed during the night.
When Noni entered the birthing suite at seven am, Aimee lay sprawled across a beanbag while Jacinta rolled the wheeled massager rhythmically over her back. The contraction finished and Jacinta reminded her to sigh after the pain.
Noni thoroughly washed her hands. ‘You ladies look great. The night sister said you started labour at midnight and came in three hours later, Aimee. You did well to stay at home that long on your own.’
Noni crouched down beside Aimee and rested her hand on the young woman’s shoulder. ‘How’s it going now?’
Aimee sighed heavily. ‘I’m okay. I knew you’d be here soon. I rang Kylie and she rang Jacinta. They’ve just changed places so Kylie can breastfeed.’
Noni glanced at Kylie on the recliner rocker, feeding her baby. A pram stood beside the door. ‘Pretty good team happening in here.’
She grabbed a footstool and placed it next to the beanbag, then settled herself onto it. ‘Can I listen to your baby, please, Aimee?’ she asked, lifting her foetal doppler out of her pocket. She squirted some clear jelly on the end of the plastic bell, and Aimee pulled up her T-shirt and shifted to allow Noni to rest the small, torch-shaped foetal ultrasound against her stomach. The steady clop, clop, clop of the baby’s heartbeat brought a smile to Aimee’s face as it floated into the air. ‘Baby’s happy. How’re you feeling, Aimee?’
‘Was excited,’ Aimee said breathlessly, then grimaced. A look of resignation appeared on her face as a contraction began to build quickly. ‘Gettin’ stronger.’
She breathed, Jacinta rubbed and Noni soothed.
At eleven am Dr Soams dropped in before he headed off to Wagga for his monthly meeting. Aimee’s labour had progressed as it should. ‘I expect you won’t wait for me, but if you do, I’ll be back around five.
By three o’clock in the afternoon Aimee’s contractions,
despite being regular and strong, seemed to be taking too long to progress her labour to the next stage. The baby’s head wasn’t moving down into Aimee’s pelvis as Noni would have liked.
‘How much longer?’ Aimee’s voice had that exhausted, agitated tone that said she didn’t have much energy left. Noni sponged her face with a cool, damp cloth.
‘It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re doing beautifully. Do you want to go back in the shower?’
‘We’ve tried everywhere, Noni. Nothing seems to be working now. I’m so tired.’
‘You’re certainly giving everything you’ve got, Aimee.’ Noni frowned and some deep instinct rattled alarm bells of premonition. She reached for the blood-pressure cuff.
‘Your blood pressure is climbing a little, too, Aimee.’ She packed that away and pulled the foetal doppler from her pocket. They all listened to the baby’s heart rate and even Aimee managed a weak grin.
‘I’ll just dash out to the desk and give Dr Soams a ring to keep him up to date with your progress.’
‘I thought I wasn’t making any progress.’ Aimee’s mouth curved in a tired smile.
Noni leaned over and brushed the damp hair back from Aimee’s eyes and smiled back. ‘Things are always changing. No contraction is wasted.’
As she walked up the corridor Noni couldn’t keep the worry from her face. ‘Not happy, Noni?’ Cathy looked up from the report she’d been writing before going home.
‘The head’s stopped descending into the pelvis. She’s dilated about seven centimetres and I’ve got goosebumps.’
Cathy straightened in alarm. ‘I hate it when you do that.’
Noni grimaced. ‘Yeah, so do I. I’ll phone Aunt Win to say I don’t know when I’ll be home. Can you let Dr Soams know?’
‘I’ll leave a message on his phone. He’s still at the base hospital for the meeting,’ Cathy said.
Noni considered her options. She didn’t like being away from the girls. ‘Can you let me know if he gets back to you? I’ll go back in.’
As soon as she opened the door she knew something was wrong. ‘Noni! My waters broke and what’s that?’ Aimee’s wail coincided with Jacinta’s horrified squeak.
A thick purple coil of shiny umbilical cord pulsated between Aimee’s legs, and Noni felt her stomach drop. Cord prolapse!
‘Jacinta, hit the red buzzer on the wall a couple of times, please, and the other midwife will come in.’
She threw a thin pillow onto the bed. ‘Kylie, help me get Aimee up on the bed, thanks. Things are going to happen really fast for the next ten minutes so I’ll explain as we go along.’
Cathy skidded to a halt as she came in.
‘Cord prolapse.’ Noni didn’t need to elaborate. She nodded at the medication cupboard and Cathy grabbed a vial of the medication to slow the contractions. She drew it up and handed it to Noni. Then she listened to the heart rate and everyone held their breath as the slow beats gradually sped up again and then sagged a little with relief as the regular beats filled the air.
‘I’ll phone the supervisor and theatres.’ Cathy left the room at a brisk pace.
The three left in the room worked together to get Aimee positioned. ‘We have to get gravity to keep your baby’s head from leaning on the cord so that means on your hands and knees with your bottom in the air, my love. Almost bury your face in the pillow.’
It was easier said than done, but Aimee didn’t complain. ‘Cord prolapse means that instead of the head coming first, a loop of cord has flopped in front when your waters broke. That’s probably why the baby’s head wasn’t coming down as we wanted, despite your good contractions. In your case, the cord has come right out and every time you have a contraction the cord can be compressed by baby’s head coming down and leaning on it.’
Aimee mumbled that she understood. Noni went on. ‘So, raising your bottom keeps that pressure off. Babies can have their oxygen reduced by pressure on the cord and need to be born as soon as possible. Unless a baby is ready to be born normally and Mum’s already pushing, which you’re not, this means a caesarean.’
The three girls gasped.
Noni nodded sympathetically. ‘And hopefully, in the next twenty minutes. So, Aimee and I are going to get real close for the next little while as I get her ready for theatre.’
‘Will my baby be all right?’ Aimee’s voice sounded muffled by the pillow and Noni saw Kylie squeeze her shoulder.
‘Baby’s heart rate is good. We want to keep it that way. The sooner we get you to the operating theatre the better.’
Cathy appeared at the door looking unhappy. ‘The other surgeon is in theatre in the middle of a case. He’ll be another hour.’
‘An hour’s no good for us,’ Noni said, keeping her tone even. ‘Ring the supervisor again and tell her we don’t have time to do the hunt. She has to find someone now and we’ll prep Aimee for theatre.’ She didn’t wait to see Cathy’s reaction before she got on with what she needed to do.
Three minutes later, she was taping the catheter to Aimee’s leg. ‘Very tricky, this,’ Noni mumbled in apology. ‘How’re you holding up, sweetheart?’ At least she didn’t have to manually hold the baby’s head off the cord like they used to do. Filling Aimee’s bladder with fluid had achieved a cushion to prevent the baby’s head entering the pelvis, and the medication they’d given her had stopped the contractions for the moment.
‘I’m scared.’ Aimee had been shaved, changed, prepped for caesarean section and shifted onto the emergency trolley for transport to theatre – all of which was done upside down with Aimee in the knees-to-chest position. Past the first deep slowing of the baby’s heart rate after the initial breaking of the waters, the heart rate had climbed back almost to normal and stayed stable. This was a good sign but could change at any second.
The orderly arrived, and with Noni on the other end of the trolley they whooshed through the corridors until they came to the operating theatre doors.
The theatre sister checked her identification list as quickly as she could safely do. ‘Can you tell me your name? Show me your armband. Which operation are you having?’
Aimee mumbled the answers and Noni hurriedly completed the notes as the trolley burst through the second set of doors.
‘I’m changing to theatre clothes. I’ll be back in a minute, Aimee.’ Noni turned and sped into the change room to don her theatre scrubs and mask.
When she made her way to Theatre One, Aimee had been shifted to the table and onto her back to allow the anaesthetist to pre-oxygenate her lungs before the general anaesthetic. So they’d found a surgeon. Positive thinking had won again.
Noni slipped her hand into Aimee’s and squeezed. ‘I’m right here and will be with you when you wake up.’
‘I’m so scared for my baby, Noni.’
‘I know, sweetheart. Think lots of strong, positive vibes as you go to sleep and your baby will know.’ She watched the girl’s eyelids flutter and the cold hand in hers loosened as Aimee fell unconscious.
Chapter Nineteen
Jacinta
Jacinta and Kylie watched Aimee being wheeled away and looked back at each other. Jacinta wasn’t the only one totally freaked out by the drama. They both stood and stared at the empty doorway. Jacinta’s hand crept down to her stomach and Kylie hugged her baby more firmly against her chest.
‘Noni will look after her,’ Jacinta said, trying not to let her voice shake.
Kylie nodded. ‘I know.’ She paused and took a breath. ‘But crap. That could’ve been me.’ She squeezed her baby tighter until the baby stirred and she eased the pressure. ‘I can’t imagine how I’d be if anything happened to Sarah.’
It still could be me, Jacinta thought, but no way was she saying that. Please don’t be me. ‘Do you want to wait here or look for somewhere we can get a drink?’ she said instead.
Kylie looked around as if remembering where she stood. ‘Let’s stay here.’ She smiled shyly at Jacinta. ‘I’m glad I’m not standing here on my own.’
>
So was Jacinta. And those few words helped. A connection of a shared experience neither of them quite understood and still promised the possibility of horror. Jacinta tried to smile back.
‘Thanks. Me too.’ She walked over and picked up her floppy bag, which held her phone and purse. As she straightened, she looked at the disordered room, at the tilted bed with the sheets flung back, and wondered if she should try to tidy it. Getting Aimee to theatre had been a whirlwind of frenetic activity and focused speed. Noni had stayed calm, though.
Jacinta took a steadying breath. Held it. Let that thought settle into her mind. Then she let her breath out. ‘Noni will look after her,’ she said again, more to herself.
Cathy, the other midwife, popped her head around the door-frame. ‘Hello, you two. What a day. You must be shell-shocked.’
‘Hi, Cath.’ Kylie lifted one hand off her baby and waved. ‘Cath was here when I had Sarah,’ she said to Jacinta. ‘Will Aimee be okay? Will her baby be okay? Will she come back here?’
‘They’ll do the caesarean as fast as they can and she was over there pretty darn quickly. I have to go over in a minute to get the baby as soon as afternoon staff arrive. So, fingers crossed baby won’t even have noticed something was wrong. And yes, she’ll come back here, but not until she wakes up. They’ll do a general anaesthetic because it’s quicker than a spinal for her. Do you guys want to wait or go home and come back?’
Jacinta looked at her watch. ‘How long do you think it’ll take if we wait?’
‘At least three hours.’
‘I’ll take Sarah home,’ Kylie said. ‘Do you want a lift, Jacinta?’
Tiredness swamped her. ‘Yes, please.’ At least she wouldn’t have to phone her father. And Win would be there. ‘Will you tell Noni I’ve gone home, please, Cath.’
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