A Measure of Mercy (14 page)

Ah, home. Lord, help these poor waifs settle in here.
Ingeborg leaned her cheek on the top of Freda’s head. The heat smote her. “How long have you had the fever?”

“It started on the train. She couldn’t keep anything down, like on the ship.” Anna winced to the point of shutting her eyes.

“Are you all right?”

“I hope so, but . . .”

“But . . . ?”

“This baby might be coming early.”

“How early?”

“Three weeks, a month.” Anna shifted on the seat, stifling a groan.

“When did the pains start?”

“During the night. I thought it was left over from the sickness on the ship.”

“Can you see the men coming?”

“Ja, I think they have everything.”

“Good. We’ll take you right to see our doctor.” She glanced back at Freda. “Both of you.”

“But we cannot . . . do not have . . . I mean . . .”

The horror on her face spoke her thoughts clearly.

“You are not to worry about anything right now. You think on the baby and let us take over the rest. The doctor is my daughter-in-law.”

Haakan and the men drew a cart up to the wagon and hefted one of the trunks from one to the other.

“Haakan.”

He set a satchel in and turned to Ingeborg. “Ja?”

“We need to go by the surgery. Anna is in labor, and Freda is burning up.” Just then Signe leaned forward, gushed vomit over her grandmother’s skirt, and burst into wails.

“We’ll hurry.” They finished loading. “Leave that cart where it is, and let’s go. Solem, you sit up here with your wife.”

The three blocks to the surgery felt like a mile as the wagon jolted up the street. Ingeborg ignored the mess on Freda and tried to comfort Signe, as did her brother. With the dust filtering up from the turning wheels, Freda started to cough, turning into gags with the violence of it.

“Here, you tie the horses.” Haakan jumped from the wagon and, pushing open the gate, ran up the walk. He leaped the steps, his boots thundering on the porch.

Astrid threw open the door. “Far, what’s wrong?”

“One’s having a baby, and the other is coughing.” He leaned against the doorframe to catch his breath. “Do you have a stretcher?”

“You sit down.” Astrid pointed to a chair. “We’ll take care of all this.” She turned back, called for Thorliff, and grabbed the stretcher they always kept folded in the corner by the door.

Thorliff and Thelma caught up with her as she started down the steps. The three of them got to the wagon, where Gilbert had already lowered the tailgate.

“Take Freda first,” Ingeborg ordered. “We’ll bring Anna. Walking is good for her anyway.” She ignored the weeping children for the moment and helped settle Freda on the stretcher so that Thorliff and Gilbert could carry her into the house. Solem helped his wife climb down and kept her from falling as another spasm doubled her over.

“Mor!” the little girl cried. “Mor.”

Astrid looked at her mother. “You take them, okay?”

“Ja, and those contractions are coming closer and closer.” Feeling a wetness on her arm, she glanced at the boards. Water dripping from the seat above. “Her water broke. I’ll be in to help immediately. Come, children. It’s all right.”

“Signe is sick,” Thor said.

“I can see that. Come along now.” She held out her hand, and after a second he reached for it.

“Signe, we’re going into the house now,” Ingeborg said in Norwegian. The words felt odd somehow when said out loud. She had become so used to speaking her native language only in her thoughts. “Come.”

Ingeborg stepped down from the wagon and took the little girl in her arms. “Shh, all is well.” This time the eruption went down the front of her summer dress. And if she was seeing right, there was blood in it.
Dear Lord, you know all things. Give us wisdom to do what
is best for these poor people. We’re depending on you to make them well
and whole again.
The smell assaulting her nostrils said the child had more problems than a queasy stomach.

Haakan met her at the steps. “You want me to take her?”

“No. No sense anyone else getting dirty. Did Elizabeth say where to take her?”

“No. There are a couple of patients already waiting in the examining rooms. They are putting Freda in one of the recovery rooms and Anna in the other.”

Lord, this is one of those times when I remember how much we need a
hospital here. If more than two patients, we don’t have room.
She carried Signe down the hall and sat down in a chair with the little one on her lap. “Run water in the bathtub, will you, please? We’ll start there.”

Haakan nodded and opened the door into the downstairs bathroom. When he shut it with a stammer, he caught Ingeborg’s questioning look. “It’s busy.”

Ingeborg swallowed a smile. Poor Haakan. A woman must have been in there. “She’ll be out in a minute, I’m sure.” Rocking and crooning, she stripped the clothing off the little girl and dropped the foul-smelling shift on the floor.

Thorliff came out of the bedroom, followed by Gilbert, and closed the door behind them. “Elizabeth said to ask you to come in as soon as you can,” he told Ingeborg.

“I’ll get this one in the bath first.” She stood when the door to the bathroom opened, and Mrs. Magron tiptoed out.

“Has something terrible happened?” she whispered, her eyes darting around at the sounds from behind closed doors.

“Our visitors from Norway arrived, and they are sick. Could you please watch this little one in the tub while I check on my cousin Freda?”

“Of course.” Mrs. Magron turned back to the bathroom and turned the handles on the tub, and the water gushed in.

Thor stood beside her, his eyes as round as silver dollars. “Are you magic?” he asked in Norwegian.

Ingeborg and Mrs. Magron chuckled and set little Signe down in the water, only to have her scream more.

“She’s afraid of so much water,” her brother said.

“I see. Would you like to get in too? That might make her feel better.”

Thor’s eyes still wide, he nodded.

“This is Mrs. Magron, and she is going to stay with you while I go check on your mor and bestemor. You can use that stool to climb into the tub as soon as you get undressed.” Ingeborg dipped a towel under the water and wiped down as much of her dress as possible.

“You want I should throw their clothes in with them?”

“No. We’ll wash those later, but thank you for helping.” Ingeborg edged toward the door and slipped out as soon as Signe changed to a whimper.

Dear Lord, help us
, she silently pleaded as she heard a groan turn into a cut-off scream from the room where Anna suffered in the midst of delivering her baby.

11

W
ater’s already broken,” Anna panted around a contraction.

“I know.” Astrid glanced at the man beside the bed, his wife’s hand strangling his. “Have you assisted before?”

He looked as if he were struggling with her words, then as understanding came he shook his head, fear widening his eyes. “At home the midwife sent me to the barn.”

“I see. Well, we do things differently here. If you do as I say, you can be a big help.” She laid her hands on the burgeoning belly, then placed her stethoscope on it. She could hear the baby’s heart racing. Her throat dried immediately. “Anna, can you hear me?”

She nodded.

“We are going to get you undressed and into a nightgown. This baby looks to be in a mighty big hurry. You’ve already had two children?” Another nod. “Both normal births?”

“She lost one once, our first,” the man explained. He knew his English, Astrid saw, but she would need to keep her words simple.

“Thank you. If you help me, this will go faster.”

He nodded and began unbuttoning his wife’s dress. Between the three of them, and in between contractions, they got Anna undressed and into a loose gown.

“Now, if you will take off your boots and sit with your back against the headboard, we’ll position Anna with her back against you.” Astrid used her hands to show him what she wanted him to do and then glanced up to see his eyes close. He sucked in a deep breath and bent to untie his boots.

While he did that, Astrid checked to see how far Anna was dilated. “How long have you been having the pains?” Astrid switched to Norwegian, making it easier for Anna to understand.

“They started during the night but got worse the nearer we come to Blessing.” She spoke a combination of Norwegian and English.

“Ja, well this baby wants to come pretty soon. So, Solem, you sit behind her like I showed you.” She glanced at the man’s face again, whiter than the sheets on which his wife lay. “You’re not going to faint on me now, are you?”

He shook his head, teeth clamped on his bottom lip.

“Ohhhhh.” Anna cut off what threatened to become another scream.

“Anna, if you need to scream, you go right ahead.”

“The children . . .”

“The children are fine. Don’t worry.”

“Signe, she’s been sick too.” He shook his head. “We were all sick. It was a terrible crossing. Even the sailors said so.”

“All right, we’ll keep the children here.” She caught herself almost praying. If only Pastor Solberg would show up. She wondered if anyone had sent for him. While God didn’t seem to regard
her
prayers, He listened when her mother and her pastor prayed. Another thought had crossed her mind, but she’d not pondered on it. Because there had to be a God. The Bible said so, and she’d seen too many prayers answered to doubt that part. He just didn’t seem to listen to her.

But right now she sure needed someone to help her. She studied her patient while keeping her eyes veiled. Anna lay collapsed against her husband, the last contraction having taken all her strength. As labors went, she’d not been at this one terribly long, but the time from when the water broke until the baby crowned had been hard labor, and with the last stretch of time, nothing more had happened.

“I’ll be right back.”

“Don’t leave us.” Her husband looked as if he might leap off the bed and go running out of the room.

“I need Dr. Elizabeth.”

Anna groaned as another massive contraction jerked her body upright in spite of her husband’s helping arms. Her groan escalated, rising to a scream that she muffled by clamping her teeth. The grimace sent a shiver up and down Astrid’s spine. She checked to see if the baby was crowning, and when nothing had happened, she tore out the door.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself lest she scare other patients, she knocked on the other bedroom door and peeked in.

“Don’t come in,” Elizabeth ordered. “This might be contagious.”

“But I need you.”

“Ingeborg, you keep cooling this woman. I’ll be right back.” Elizabeth motioned to Astrid to back up. “What is going on?”

“Nothing. Anna is in full labor and not dilating any further. The baby hasn’t crowned yet.”

“I see. You’ve checked for position?”

“You mean internally?” Astrid clamped her teeth on her bottom lip.

“Yes.” Elizabeth clipped the word.

Astrid shook her head.
I can’t
, her mind screamed.

“You’ve done it before.”

“I . . . I know. But . . .” Astrid looked down at her hands. Not since Vernon’s surgery.
I touched him inside, and he died.

“It’s coming!” Solem shouted.

“See, you worried too soon.”

Astrid headed back into the delivery room. The baby had not only crowned, but one more push should free it. Astrid gasped at the blue skin. As the baby slithered out, she saw why. The pulsing cord was wrapped tightly around the baby’s neck.

Astrid reached for a scalpel to cut the cord, but what if the mother bled to death? Was the baby dead already or in extremis? Both Mor and Elizabeth were contaminated. She slid her fingers under the cord to take the pressure off the baby’s throat and pushed on his chest at the same time.
Breathe, baby, breathe. God, help me. What do I do?

“What’s wrong?” Anna gasped.

Fingers flying, Astrid found two lengths of string and tied the cord in two places before cutting between them. Each moment seemed like an hour, as if she were standing up in the corner and watching rather than in blood to her elbows and a blue baby in her hands. With the infant freed, she tipped him upside down and smacked his feet. Then pushed again on his chest.
Breathe! God, please make him breathe!

Regowned and scrubbed, Dr. Elizabeth entered the room, taking everything in at a glance. She called out the door, “Thelma, warm water—now!”

“The cord . . .”

“I can tell. We’ll swish him in warm water. Sometimes that works.

Breathe for him. Cover both his nose and mouth and force the air into his lungs.” While Astrid did that, Elizabeth massaged Anna’s now flaccid belly with one hand, and with the other she packed sterile cloths between her legs to staunch the blood flow.

When Thelma brought in a tub of warm water, Elizabeth said, “Take over here for me so I can help Astrid.”

Anna groaned again, and the afterbirth flowed out onto the soaked pads, along with too much blood.

“Swish him a couple times, then breathe for him again. See, his color is improving.”