Courting Buggy: Nurse Hal Among The Amish (28 page)

She closed her eyes and dozed off only to
toss and turn. This happened often to her since Peter died. Images
raged and floated through the thunderstorm in her mind. Peter faded
in and out, glaring at her and shaking his finger. He was impatient
with her for not going to see his son. He wanted her to keep her
promise. A promise she shouldn't have made.

Tootie's eyes shot open. A rumble of thunder
was loud. Must be that was what had startled her awake. The
curtains flapped wildly out into the room. She should get up and
close that window. Sounded like a real sky buster coming. She
rubbed her eyes, hating to get out of bed.

It wasn't thunder that woke her. Someone
knocked on the door.

“
Go away,” Tootie snapped. “We're all
in bed.”

“
Please open up,” a woman's voice
begged. “I need to see Nurse Hal.”

Tootie slid out of bed and felt for her
housecoat on the foot of the bed. She put it on and got down on her
knees to feel under the bed for her fuzzy house shoes. She didn't
come up with them. She must have flung them back too far when she
kicked them off.

The knocking was more impatient this
time.

Tootie stood up. Hal left a flashlight on the
table. She had to make due with it to get across the dark room. No
way was she going to mess with trying to light the lamp. She made
Emma or Hal turn it off at night once she laid down. She wasn't
about to light the lamp herself. Be her luck she'd burn the house
down.

Again, the next rapid knocking. She snapped,
“I'm coming.”

Tootie opened the door a crack and peeked
outside. Rain poured onto the porch's tin roof and fell in sheets
to the ground. All she could make out were two black figures. She
shone the flashlight in their faces. “What do you want?”

“
I have to see Nurse Hal. Please let me
in,” the woman said, putting her hands in front of her
eyes.

“
Why?” Tootie demanded.

“
I am having a baby,” she
said.

“
Come back tomorrow when Hallie is up.”
Tootie started to shut the door.

A hand slammed into the door to keep it open.
The man said, “We have to see Nurse Hal now. My wife is having the
baby soon.”

The woman cried out in pain and grabbed her
protruding stomach.

Tootie opened the door wide. “Oh dear! I'll
say soon. Come in quick.” She grabbed the young woman by the elbow.
“Come over here, Dear, and get in bed. I'll go get Hallie right
away.”

The woman laid down. Tootie covered her up
and ordered the man to close the open window before she hurried
from the room. She went up the stairs carefully, not wanting to
miss a step. At the top, she looked from one closed door to the
next.

“
I don't know which one is Hallie's
room. Guess I'll pick the first door and find out,” Tootie
mumbled.

She turned the flashlight off and
opened the door slowly. As she eased across the room to the bed,
she could make out a snoring man on this side. She made her way
around the bed and leaned down close to see who was on the other
side.
This is Hallie
. Tootie
reached out and patted Hal's arm.

Hal let out a gasp.

“
Hallie,” Tootie whispered. “It's me,
Aunt Tootie.”

“
Are you sleepwalking?” Hal asked
groggily

“
No, I'm awake. I just came to tell you
something,” Tootie said.

John rolled over. “Was ist letz?”

“
The matter is Aunt Tootie is standing
over us,” Hal said.

“
She must be sleepwalking,” John
mumbled. “Take her back to bed.”

“
I'm not sleepwalking, and I'll have
you know John Lapp I'd like to go back to bed,” Tootie said
impatiently. “But I can't. We have a problem.”

“
What kind of problem?” Hal asked
groggily.

“
A woman is having her baby in my
bed.”

“
What?” Hal cried, sitting
up.

“
I'm sorry to have to wake you. I told
her to go home. She demanded I come get you. She says she can't
wait until morning to give birth,” Tootie complained.

“
Who is it?”

“
I didn't ask her name. I was too upset
when she screamed,” Tootie said.

“
I've got to get to the clinic fast,”
Hal said urgently.

Her arm came out to move Tootie aside so she
could get out of bed. She slipped into her robe, grabbed a
flashlight, and turned it on in John's face.

He threw his arm over his eyes and
groaned.

“
I'm so sorry, John. Go back to sleep.
I have to deliver a baby,” Hal said as she rushed for the door.
Tootie was right behind her.

“
I heard,” John said
sluggishly.

When they were in the hall, Tootie turned on
her flashlight. She asked in a put out voice, “Just where am I
supposed to sleep?”

Hal turned around. “What? Oh.” She pointed to
Emma's door. “Go sleep with Emma.”

“
All right,” Tootie grumbled to Hal's
back as she started down the stairs. Tootie slowly opened the door
and eased in. The room was so dark. She walked slowly and leaned
over to squint at the bed. Emma was sleeping on this side. Tootie
went around and pulled back the covers. She sat down, put her feet
in bed and covered up.

The draft from fanning the covers woke up
Emma. She rolled over fast. “Was ist letz?”

“
Don't get mad at me. Hallie said I
could sleep with you,” Tootie whined.

“
Aendi Tootie! I am sorry. You scared
me. Are you sleepwalking?”

“
No, I'm wide awake unfortunately,”
Tootie complained.

“
Why are you supposed to sleep with
me?” Emma asked.

“
There's a woman in my bed having a
baby,” Tootie explained with a put out sigh.

“
Really! I have to go,” Emma said,
vaulting up.

“
Why?” Tootie demanded.

“
I assist Hallie. I have to build a
fire in the cookstove and heat water,” Emma explained as she put on
her robe and fumbled for her flashlight on the side
table.

“
Oh,” Tootie said. She pulled the
covers up to her chin. “See you in the morning.”

After Emma left, Tootie felt wide awake. She
grumbled, “Nora told me coming here was going to be a relaxing
vacation. She was wrong, wrong. Just all wrong. I wash a pickup
truck load of dishes three times a day. Emma is always trying to
talk me into hoeing her old garden. Hal makes me hang up
laundry.

We go, go, go all the time in that old dusty
buggy. No wonder they need so much help when they're home. They
spend too much time running around. The only person I had fun with
up and died on me. Since then I can't even get a decent night's
rest in this place, thinking about what Peter wants me to do for
him. How could he die and leave that burden on me?

Holly Buckets! A woman has to be in my bed to
have her baby. What was wrong with messing up her own bed? I'm
going to tell Nora in the morning I'm ready to go home. Maybe once
I'm home in my bed, I'll not feel so burdened with Peter's secret.
I have no intention of keeping my promise to him. I just want to go
home right away.”

Hal entered the dark clinic. She could make
out two figures, one on the bed and the other standing by it. “We
need some light in here, don't we?” She lit the lamp and turned
back to the bed. Until then she didn't have a clue which one of her
patients she'd find. “Mary Mast, you're doing it to me again! You
aren't supposed to be ready to deliver for a month yet. I should
call an ambulance and send you right to the hospital.”

“
I don't think you have time to do
that,” Eli Mast said. “She is ready to have the baby
now.”

“
I'll be the judge of that, Doctor Eli.
Let me see,” Hal said, giving him a half smile. Eli's usually
twinkling eyes were dim with worry. He nodded solemnly.

Hal's visual assessment saw Mary's usually
pale face was flushed. Her fair hair was damp with sweat, leaking
from under her prayer cap and plastered along her face. Her blue
eyes were pain filled.

Emma stuck her head in the door. “I'll put
the water on.” She looked at the bed. “ Ach nah, it is Mary. What
else do you need?”

“
Bring clean bedding. We need to change
the bed with Mary in it,” Hal said, and Emma left. “Eli, you go sit
in a chair. Rest until I need you.” When Eli moved out of the way,
Hal pulled the top covers back at the foot of the bed. She checked
Mary for dilation. Mary was in labor all right, but Hal found the
umbilical cord coming down before the baby. That was a bad
sign.

“
Eli and Mary, the umbilical cord is
coming out first. A prolapsed cord means when the baby's head gets
in the birth canal the head will press against the cord and shut
the baby's oxygen supply off. Chances are great that the baby will
be born dead if that's allowed to happen.”

Both parents looked frightened. They lost
their first baby. They didn't want to lose this one.

Mary's voice trembled. “What can we do?”

“
First, I need to call that ambulance.
You're going to have to have a cesarean section. Until we get you
to the hospital, I'm going to insert my hand and keep the baby from
entering the birth canal until we get you a doctor's
help.”

Mary blushed. Her shy nature bothered her at
the thought, but her brave response was, “You do what you need to
do.”

Hal looked at Eli for his approval. The
muscle in his jaw bunched as he responded, “Jah, we want this
baby.”

“
That's right. We all do,” Hal agreed.
“I don't want a repeat of what happened to the last baby. I want to
save this baby.”

Mary looked at Eli and back at Hal. “We would
be very sad if this baby does not make it, but Nurse Hal, God makes
no mistakes. He does all things well. We only see right now in our
life, and he sees our whole life.”

Eli nodded. “That is right. God would see our
tears. He would know what we are feeling when we look at the empty
crib in our bedroom just like last time. God gave up His only Son
when he sent him to earth to die for our sins. He is our help and
our strength in time of need. That help is for you as well as Mary
and me. Just do your best. That is all we ask. All three of us will
have to accept what happens, good or bad.”

As Hal pulled her nursing bag out of the
cupboard, she knew what the Masts said was supposed to make her
feel better but it didn't. Only being in action now and hoping for
a successful outcome was going to make her less anxious. She rifled
through her bag for her cell phone, praying the battery was up
enough to make the 911 call.

The phone had bars. Hal made the call and
explained to the dispatcher the problem. She asked for an
ambulance. She told the dispatcher to call the hospital to alert ER
so the nurse on duty could get a doctor ready to take over when
Mary arrived. They needed an operating room prepared quickly for
the cesarean section. Since she'd begin holding the baby in right
away, she didn't have time to make the calls herself. The
dispatcher said she'd take care of everything.

Hal assigned Eli and Mary tasks to make the
wait go easier. “Eli, go find Emma and tell her to come here so I
can explain what's happened. In the morning, she will need to tell
my family where I disappeared to. We won't be needing warm water or
bedding anymore.” As soon as he left the room, Hal put on a glove
and covered it with lubricant. Mary's painful modesty showed on her
face when Hal said, “I'm ready to insert my hand now so you pray
that what I'm about to do is successful to save your baby, and that
my arm and hand hold out until we get you to the hospital.”

“
Do what is necessary. Eli and I want
this baby to survive,” Mary said in a strained voice.

Hal took a deep breath and inserted her hand
until she felt the baby's head. She threw the blankets back over
Mary with the other hand until only Mary's bare feet were sticking
out. Mary groaned and pushed, causing Hal to strain to keep her
hand in place.

It seemed forever until the ambulance came
roaring into the drive, the siren a warbled blare and strobe lights
pierced the darkness. Hal said, “Mary, stay in the buggy now. The
move to the stretcher is not going to be easy for either of
us.”

“
Hi, Nurse Hal,” EMT Daryl greeted.
“What we got going this time?”

She explained to Daryl, Steven and Ivan what
the situation was to make sure they understood the problem. “Now
you have to somehow keep the two of us together and covered up as
we move from the bed to the stretcher.”

The emergency workers managed to get Mary on
the stretcher and keep Hal in place by slowly moving as one unit.
Her hand did slip once when she stepped off the porch steps, but
she managed to get her hand back in place before Mary's next
contraction

Hal told Eli on the way to the ambulance, “Go
to the hospital waiting room. I'll find you as soon as I can and
wait with you. When all is well with Mary, you can give me a ride
home when you leave.” By then the emergency workers were putting
Mary's stretcher into the ambulance.

“
Jah, I will,” he called into the
ambulance as the door shut.

The drive to the hospital was bouncy. Hal
told herself ambulances weren't built for the comfort of the sick
people they carried. Each bounce sure made it hard for her to do
her job at the moment.

Getting out of the ambulance was another
precarious procedure, but they made it inside the Emergency Room.
Lucy Stineford was on duty that night. “We have a room ready for
your patient.” She giggled when she got a close look at Hal. “Had
you planned on finding a bed to spend the night in?”