I’m needed in birthing. You’ll have to go.’ Leon’s eyebrows rose haughtily and Tammy almost smiled. She could tell he wasn’t used to that. A woman had to go and he would be left cooling his heels.
He stood, though to say he did it obediently didn’t suit the way he complied. ‘You are not in awe of me at all, are you, Tamara?’
She didn’t have time for this, unfortunately. ‘Should I be?’ She switched on the intercom between the two houses. ‘I hope I haven’t jinxed us talking about resuscitation and healthy babies.’
She saw his mind switch to the medical urgency. ‘What was said?’
She gave him half an ear as she scooped up her keys. ‘On the phone? Misty’s concerned at the delay in second stage, and there’s some unease with the baby’s heart rate,’ she murmured as she closed the front door behind them both. ‘If it was bad she’d ship them out to the base hospital, but backup is always good when the back of your neck prickles. Do you want to come?’
He shrugged. ‘I’m not registered in this country but happy to advise you if needed. Please.’
‘Fine. People know Gianni so they’ll have no problem accepting your presence.’
He hesitated at the two cars. ‘I’ll meet you there. No sense leaving your car or mine here because we don’t know how long you’ll be.’
They met outside the hospital and she let them in through the side entrance. Trying to remain unobtrusive they drifted into the birthing room and over to Misty. The lighting was still dim but Tammy saw the heater on for the infant resuscitation trolley and the preparations Misty had made. And the birthing mother, Trina, was beside the bed and not in the bath.
There was even a flicker of relief in her stepmother’s eyes when she saw Leon. Tammy’s stomach tightened. With uncomplicated births the midwife called a staff member from another part of the hospital as an extra pair of hands. If the midwife was uneasy she called the on-call midwife or doctor as a more experienced backup.
Misty spoke quietly so as not to disturb the couple who were leaning over the bed together. ‘Trina’s been pushing for an hour and a half now and everyone’s getting tired. There’s good descent of the head but there’s still a heck of a lot of baby to come.’
Tammy nodded. ‘Do you want to transfer?’
Misty shook her head. ‘Maybe earlier would have been better but Trina didn’t want to go. We’re just getting a head-on view now and we don’t want a difficult birth lying down in an ambulance. Trina’s done an amazing job.’ She eased her neck stiffness. ‘Thanks for coming. I wanted some backup for the end. We’ll move to all fours when the head’s almost here.’
‘Sure. Good call.’ Tammy was peripherally aware that Leon had moved to the resuscitation trolley and was checking the drawers. Excellent. It would be much easier if he knew what they had and where it was. He shut the bottom drawer, glanced up and nodded.
She hoped they wouldn’t need him.
The next pain came and the expulsive efforts from Trina were huge. Tammy could see why Misty was impressed with Trina’s progress. Slowly a thatch of baby’s hair could be seen and Misty helped Trina down onto her hands and knees, the position least likely to result in a baby’s shoulder becoming lodged behind the pubic bone of the mother.
During the next contraction the baby’s head was born. Tammy raised her eyebrows at Misty. Not a small head and the fact didn’t auger well for small shoulders. Tammy glanced at the clock.
‘If your baby’s shoulders feel tight remember you can help by bringing your chest in close. Nipples to knees. That flattens the curve of your coccyx and allows baby an extra centimetre or two.’ All calm and quiet instructions that Tammy knew Misty would have given before this stage as well.
As the seconds passed and they waited for the next contraction, the skin of the baby’s scalp faded from pink to pale blue, and Tammy could feel her own heart rate begin to gallop as the handheld Doppler amplified the way Trina’s baby’s heart rate slowed. The contraction finally began again and baby’s head seemed to try to extend but didn’t move and Tammy crouched down beside Trina’s ear. ‘Bring your knees together as close as you can and flatten your breasts down towards your knees. You’re doing awesome.’
Trina squashed down as much as she could and Misty supported the baby’s head. The contraction built. ‘Okay, Trina, push now.’
Trina pushed and suddenly her baby eased under the arch of her mother’s pelvis and tumbled limply into Misty’s hands. ‘Flip around, Trina, so we can lay baby on your warm stomach and have a look at this little bruiser.’
Misty wiped the baby briskly with a warm towel and passed her baby, all cord and limbs and damp skin, back to Trina between her legs, and the new mother shifted around until she was lying on her back with her stunned baby flaccid on her stomach.
Misty used the little handheld Doppler directly against the baby’s chest and the comparatively slow thump-thump-thump of the baby’s heart rate made them all look at the clock.
‘Over a hundred,’ Leon said, ‘and some respiratory effort.’ He leaned down and held the green oxygen tubing near baby’s face until the little body became gradually more pink.
‘Thirty seconds since birth,’ Tammy said, and as if on cue Trina’s baby screwed her face up and began to cry in a gradually increasing volume. Except for the slight blueness in her face from the tight fit, Trina’s baby was vigorous and pink all over now as she roared her disapproval of the cool air Leon was holding near her nose.
He took it away and watched Tammy and Misty exchange smiles, and Misty’s shoulders dropped with relief. She slid the baby up Trina’s body to her breasts and put a warm blanket over both of them.
‘What do you think she weighs?’ Trina’s husband seemed to have missed the tenseness the attendants had felt and Misty wiped her forehead with the back of her wrist.
‘I’d say at least eleven pounds.’ She looked at Trina. ‘What do you think, Trina?’
Trina looked away from her baby and grinned widely up at Misty. ‘She’s as big as a watermelon. And I’m stiff and sore but glad it’s over. She’s definitely my biggest—’ she glanced at her husband ‘—and my last.’
‘I’m glad you mentioned you don’t cut the cord immediately,’ Leon said quietly into Tammy’s ear. ‘Or I would have been expecting a different sequence of events.’
They’d moved back away from the birthing couple to the sink to strip off their gloves and wash their hands. Tammy nodded. ‘Do you think it would have made much difference if we’d clamped and cut and moved the baby to the resuscitation trolley?’
‘Not with an adequate heart rate like that.’ He paused and she wondered if he was comparing this with other occasions he’d known. ‘Actually, no, and I can see advantages. It is always good to see differences in the way things are managed in other hospitals, let alone other countries.’
They waved to Misty and let themselves out. The parents were absorbed in their new daughter and waved absently.
Tammy smiled at the man walking beside her. ‘It was good to know you were there. If those shoulders had been more stubborn we would have had a baby
