We continued to laugh heartily until an unfamiliar sound swept through the air. I strained my ears to figure out the sound, looking for Elijah for an explanation, but he had managed to slip away unnoticed. I followed the jingling sound that was ringing in my ears, while looking around corners for my husband. The magnificent sound was coming from the front of the house, so I opened the front door. Much to my surprise, I saw Elijah in a sleigh with Eli and Banjo hitched to it.
“Merry Christmas,” Elijah hollered cheerfully.
He held out his arms toward the sleigh, motioning me to come to him. My mother handed me my heavy coat and assisted me in pulling on my boots, then, urged me to join my husband. I walked carefully onto the porch so I wouldn’t slip on the fresh layer of snow that had blown onto it. Elijah walked up the steps to help me down to where the sleigh was waiting for us. The impatient horses blew rolling puffs of icy air from their nostrils that glistened against the blue light of the moon.
“Is this for me?” I asked excitedly.
“It is for you, my little wild flower,” he said lovingly as he bowed slightly.
A boyish grin spread wide across his face. “May I have the pleasure of my beautiful wife’s company for a moonlit sleigh ride?”
I played along and offered him my hand. “You may.”
He took my hand and assisted me into the sleigh, then sat down close beside me. Then he placed heavy woolen blankets around our laps, and clicked a command to the horses. I looked to the front porch where my family eagerly waved us off. They appeared to be just as excited as I was by the surprise gift.
As we pulled away from the house, the horses started out walking slowly, while the bells provided a gentle chiming, but when they began a slow trot, the bells jingled a steady, romantic rhythm. I looked into Elijah’s eyes excitedly, allowing the love that he had for me to keep me warm.
****
As the ice began to melt from the creek bank, crocuses pushed their way through the light layer of snow that remained in patches along the warming soil. The smell of fresh soil made me eager to make plans for the oversized patch of earth that was to become my own garden. My mind skipped ahead to canning season, wondering which vegetables I would like to have and which ones might be easier to grow. Having very little luck with my first garden at my mother’s house, I was already aware of what I was capable of growing without much effort. But this was different. This would provide food for my husband; and for that reason alone, I made up my mind to challenge myself.
I went to my father, knowing he would have plenty of seeds from the previous season. Even if he lacked some seeds, Abraham’s collection would be there to fill in the gaps. Just as I’d suspected, my father’s assortment of seeds in the barn was overwhelming. All carefully labeled, the small paper sacks that housed the seeds invited me to explore so many possibilities in my mind’s eye.
My father watched as I pored over the selection of seeds with excitement.
“You don’t need to have an entire field your first season.”
“I know, Papa. But Elijah will be counting on me to help feed the family.”
I patted my swelling abdomen lovingly.
“Elijah will provide for you, Jane. Did you forget you married an experienced farmer?”
“How could I forget a thing like that? Why do you think I’m so determined to have the best garden I can?”
He smiled knowingly, then, helped me sift through my increasing mixture of vegetable and flower seeds. There was no changing my mind once it was made it up, and he knew me well enough to allow my stubbornness to rule me.
****
The heat of July swept across Indiana with full force, making the last four weeks of my pregnancy nearly unbearable. Lucy had come to stay with me so Elijah could keep up with the chores around the farm without having to tend to my every need as well. Lucy and I sat on the porch swing sipping lemonade, allowing the subtle breeze to dry the perspiration from our foreheads. The fragrant blossoms from the lilac bushes that surrounded the porch perfumed the air as the breeze drifted along lazily.
We had fed the chickens earlier and had intended on weeding a bit in the garden, but it quickly became too hot and humid. We decided to tend to the garden after the dinner hour, just before the mosquitoes would become a nuisance. For now, we shelled some of the early peas from my garden into the new colander Elijah purchased from Forks General Store when he had gone into town the day before. My own trips to town had been curtailed about a month prior, due to my increasing girth. The heaviness of the child within me rested too heavily upon my bladder, making the jostling from the buggy too painful for me to bear.
I took off my shoes and long knit stockings to relieve myself somewhat of the heat. The increasing girth of my pregnancy made it a difficult task, but I was determined to get free from the sweltering heat that my stockings held in. The wind floated up the skirting of my dress, giving me some relief, but I decided I wanted to wade in the creek. As Lucy helped me to my feet, we both laughed at the difficulty I had in getting up from the swing.
The thick grass cooled my tired feet as we walked along the worn path that was partially covered with grass. Nadine met us at the fork of the path that led from her home. She too, was too warm in her last term of her pregnancy, and wanted to wade the creek with us. Nadine’s pregnancy was nearly three months behind my own, which amazed all of us, since it was the first pregnancy for both of us. Benjamin and Nadine had waited a while to start their family, but Elijah and I had not planned it that way. We knew that whenever God chose to bless us, we would become parents, and we were blessed with news of my pregnancy less than two months after we were wed. It had been a time of great adjustment for me. To be newly pregnant and newlywed at the same time proved stressful in the beginning. However, I soon learned to adjust with the help of an understanding husband.
Mitchell and Rebekah, on the other hand, had recently had their second child—a boy, whom they named Jordan. And though he was born early, there were no complications. I didn’t intend to have my children that close together. In fact, as tough as being pregnant was on a body, I wasn’t certain I would agree to have any more than the one I already carried.
Life in the Amish community was rough on most of the women, but I was fortunate that my husband had allowed for a modern electric washer and dryer. Without them, I may not have gotten through our first winter too easily. I enjoyed hanging clothes on the outside line if the weather permitted, but I wouldn’t have given up that dryer for most anything, especially since I was pregnant. I didn’t mind using the gas stove in which to cook, or the lanterns for light, but I sure was happy that Elijah had the generosity in his heart to allow me the luxury of a water heater to heat my bath water. Having the use of electricity in our laundry room cut down on a lot of stress for me in my pregnant state. Our windmill generated the electricity, and although I couldn’t quite grasp the engineering of it from Elijah’s explanations, I knew it worked, and that was all that mattered to me.
The creek was almost bitter cold, which caused my feet to throb. Still, it was refreshing in small jaunts. For nearly an hour, we walked in and out of the water, laughing and splashing until we were nearly soaked. We sat on the bank to dry in the sun, discussing names for our babies, while Lucy interjected with some strange suggestions of her own.
Hannah joined us, and we all sat around discussing names, much to the bore of poor Lucy. We didn’t intend to exclude her, but she was the only one of us that was not expecting a child. Hannah and I were due on the same day, but she looked as though she were about to give birth any day, whereas I expected to be pregnant for another month. Hannah was determined that she would only have girls, and she had already decided on the names Rachel and Ezra for them, claiming that David, her husband, had given her full reign over naming them if her children were to be girls. This excited Hannah, therefore, we continued to throw different, and, some unusual names around.
After a while, Lucy became somewhat anxious, and went u
p to the house to fetch a pail to pick berries with. Hannah watched her curiously as she walked along the path, waiting for her to be out of earshot before she spoke to me.
“Jane, why is it that Lucy stays with you, and not Rachel?”
“My sister or Elijah’s? We have two Rachel’s, remember?” I asked her.
“I meant your sister. She doesn’t seem that close to any of you girls. How come?” she asked with curious caution in her tone.
“Well, that’s a long story. Before we moved here, we weren’t exactly raised to be that close. Nadine and I always got along pretty good, but the two of us and Mitchell were so much older when the rest of the kids came along, that it seemed as though they were part of another family,” I tried explaining.
“But that still doesn’t explain why you have such a gut time with Lucy. She’s even younger than Rachel.”
“Lucy is an exception. When she was a baby, I took on a lot of her care—almost like she was my own child. My mam was ill for a while, so I kinda took over being the mamma for a while. Nadine did some of the housework with me, so I mostly played mamma to the younger ones. Rachel was old enough at that time that she took care of herself. She’s kinda kept to herself ever since.”
“She’s a lot more social with us now than she was before we came here,” Nadine interjected. “But I don’t think she’ll ever wanna be part of regular family stuff.”
“That’s a special thing you got with Lucy, you know it Jane?”
She wasn’t asking, she was telling me how it was, and I didn’t have any problem accepting it as truth. I would have liked it more if I had had a close relationship with all my siblings, but it hadn’t turned out that way. I knew I couldn’t have any regrets though, or I would have no reason to appreciate the love that our family had found after moving to the farmhouse.
The sun rested high in the sky, alerting us to the fact that we would be needed at home to prepare the noon meal for our hard-working husbands. After kicking along the creek for another few minutes, we started walking toward home where plenty of work awaited us.
****
On the twentieth day of July, I awoke to the feeling of a delightful twinge in my abdomen, alerting me to the fact that the birth of my first child was eminent. The awareness that I had of my surroundings became dulled when a sharp pain quivered across my back. I hadn’t even realized that I was standing in a puddle of water on the bathroom floor. When I felt the gentle trickle of warm water on my legs, I knew then that my water had broken. I tried in desperation to blot the seemingly never-ending flow of water, while I called nervously for my husband.
“Elijah, where are you?” I begged desperately for his whereabouts.
Holding a towel around me, I walked to the French doors that led to our balcony leading out to the back of the house. I yelled once more for my husband, who seemed to be nowhere in the general area. Panic ran through me before I had the chance to gather my thoughts and breathe a short prayer.
“Oh Lord, help me not to be afraid of the unknown. Help me to stay calm until my husband returns from his morning chores. Please bless this child that is within me, and give me the strength to endure the pain that is to come.”
Just then, I heard Nadine calling to me from my bedroom door.
“Hey sweetie, are you up yet? I let myself in because you didn’t answer the door.”
Her voice was cheerful.
“In here.” I answered, relieved not to be alone anymore. I pulled my robe around me and turned on the water to fill the oversized tub.
“Where’s Lucy?” she called from the other room before finding me in the bathroom.
“She must be in the hen house. She didn’t hear me when I called for Elijah.”
She smiled at me, until she studied my pale face.
“Are you okay?” she asked as she grabbed my arm to steady me.
“I’m having another big contraction,” I said breathlessly.
“How long have you been having them?”
“Well, that depends. I’ve been feeling achy for about three hours, but I’ve been laying in the bed struggling to get up. It only started feeling like contractions since I got out of bed about ten minutes ago,” I recalled.
“Did your water break?” she asked pointing to the towel that I had wrapped around my legs.
“Yes. I was gonna take a warm bath to ease the pain in my back. Will you sit with me?”
“You can’t take a bath if your water broke. You better take a shower.” She reached down and turned off the water.
“Why can’t I take a bath?”
“Mam told me when she was having Molly before we moved here. Her water broke and I helped her get in the shower because Dr. Dana told her not to bathe because it could cause an infection in the uterus.” She explained.
“I never heard of such a thing—of course with Dr. Dana, it could have been an “old wives tale” that he told mamma. Just in case it’s true though, it’s a good thing you showed up when you did, or I might’ve made a big mistake.”
Nadine pulled the plug to drain the tub, then, started the shower for me. The hot water soothed my back pain, allowing me to relax through the contractions. They began to come at increasingly longer lengths with fewer breaks in between. This alarmed Nadine, so she offered to get Lucy to fetch the midwife for me.
“No!” I snapped. “I want Dr. Beiler.” I said with fear in my voice.
“You haven’t even started having hard labor yet, so we got plenty of time to get the doctor. Put a fresh nightgown on and rest on the bed while I have Lucy round up Elijah for you. Meanwhile, I’ll go up to mom’s and have her call the doc for you. Stay calm, you aren’t even half-way there yet,” she said with a smirk.
I did as she said and tried my best to remain calm. I knew the pains weren’t anywhere near the intensity that I had witnessed in Naomi the night that she gave birth to Elijah’s twin sisters, or with mamma’s or Rebekah’s labor. With that in mind, I was grateful that I had not begun to be in that much pain yet.
Elijah sent Lucy in the house to sit with me, then, showered downstairs in the mud-room to get the earth off of him so he could be of assistance. My mother and Nadine arrived with the news that Dr. Beiler was on his way. As my mother questioned me about the contractions, she took a mental note and assured me that I still had plenty of time before the baby would arrive.
Although the contractions were not increasing in intensity, I was beginning to feel more uncomfortable with each one. My mother even told me I was getting crabby.
“You should save that for the last stage of labor, honey. Most women don’t get crabby until they’re ready to push,” she informed me.
“I do feel kinda like I could push right now,” I said, wincing.
“There is no way you need to push now. You haven’t even had any hard contractions yet. You’ve barely had to do any breathing through them,” she said.
I grunted a little, and she warned me to stop before I wore myself out. I pushed a little more quietly, and slowly, causing the urge to push to increase. My mother and Nadine left the room to gather together some fresh towels when Elijah entered the room. I pulled him closer so she wouldn’t hear me talking to him.
“I don’t know if my mamma is right, but I really do feel like I gotta push. Maybe something's wrong,” I alerted him.
“When Dr. Beiler last saw you, didn’t he say that you shouldn’t push until the baby’s head is coming out?” he asked.
“I don’t remember. It does sorta feel like the baby is coming out though,” I said in a grunting voice. “I think I’m having the baby now!”
Just then my mother came back in the room, and Elijah relayed to her what my concern was. She assured him that it wasn’t time to push yet, and went about setting up the room with Nadine for the new arrival.
“Mamma, please. I think I’m having the baby now,” I grunted.
“You aren’t still trying to push are you?” she asked with concern.
“Mamma, it
’s time, I just know it,” I cried. “I’m having the baby now,”
“Oh, you are not,” she teased.
She walked over to the bed to check my progress, and gasped when she realized I had been right.
“Oh no! You are having the baby!”
Fear engulfed me. “I am?”
I panicked, feeling like I could faint, but I didn’t want to miss one single thing. The concern of not having a doctor present seemed to agitate Elijah.
“Shouldn’t we wait for the doctor to come?” he asked my mother nervously.
“There isn’t time,” she stated matter-of-factly. “Babies have a way of showing up when they are good and ready, and this one is ready just like its mamma said.”
Elijah got behind me as my mother instructed him to, then she took over telling me when and how long to push. When a tiny head emerged, I began to laugh as tears poured from my eyes in amazement. One more long push revealed a calm baby boy.
Little Wild Flower, Amish Romance/Amish Fiction/Christian Romance Page 16
