A Very Single Midwife

by Fiona McArthur

  ‘It’s OK. Have a rest when the pain is gone.’ Bella placed the tiny waterproof Doppler low down on Melissa’s stomach and the clop-clop of baby’s heartbeat echoed clearly in the bathroom.

  ‘Your baby’s still happy.’

  ‘I’m not,’ said Melissa.

  Bella smiled and squeezed her hand. ‘You are magnificent!’

  Blake nodded in total agreement.

  ‘Here comes another one…’ Melissa gritted her teeth and Bella stroked the girl’s jaw.

  ‘Loose jaw, loose perineum, Melissa. Remember that all the power is travelling down and not to waste it in your face or arms.’

  Melissa consciously relaxed her face and then her eyes widened. ‘I think it’s coming.’

  Bella ran her gloved hands between Melissa’s legs and sure enough a tiny bulge of baby’s head had descended enough for her to feel. ‘Well done, Melissa. It would have taken heaps more pushes than that if you’d stayed on the bed.’ Bella glanced at the door.

  ‘OK. We’d better shuffle back to the bed and keep the doctor happy.’ As soon as the pain was gone, Bella cajoled Melissa into movement and Blake and Bella supported her to the bed. Bella pressed the call button and Scott and the night sister appeared within seconds.

  When Melissa had climbed onto the bed everyone could see how close the baby was to arriving and Scott met Bella’s eyes with a shake of the head as if to say, Too close.

  Bella smiled sweetly in return and settled Blake back into the chair because he looked like he was ready to faint.

  She could hear Scott washing his hands as she gave Blake a drink of water and the whistle of the oxygen as Sharon checked the infant resuscitation trolley. It was all happening very quickly.

  ‘Gently now,’ Scott murmured as his gloved hand rested lightly on the baby’s head and Melissa whimpered. The sound made Blake squeeze Melissa’s hand and put his cheek next to hers. ‘You’re nearly there. You’re so clever and you get to see your baby soon.’

  She nodded that she understood. Bella left them to it and watched the birth.

  With aching slowness, Melissa’s pelvic floor guided her baby’s body through the twists and turns required to reach the outside world. The mechanisms of birth never failed to awe Bella. Her years in Sydney at the birthing centre had reinforced her belief that in the great majority of cases, a woman’s body would achieve what it had to if the mother believed in herself.

  The back of the baby’s head extended to allow the forehead, nose and chin to be born in one sweep of the perineum and, with little delay, its head restituted to allow the shoulders under the pubic arch, followed by the rest of its body, and the infant came into the world in a slithery rush.

  Scott lifted the baby up to show Melissa. ‘Brilliant job, Melissa. Well done. So, what have you got?’ he asked.

  Melissa opened her eyes and stared up at the diminutive baby. ‘Oh, it’s a girl and she’s so tiny. I want to call her Tina.’

  Blake’s eyes were shining with unshed tears as Scott laid Melissa’s daughter on her mother’s breasts.

  ‘Hello, Tina,’ Bella said as she tucked a bunny rug around them both while Scott clamped the cord.

  ‘Do you want to cut the cord?’ Scott asked Blake in a noncommittal voice.

  Blake shook his head. ‘I’m not the father.’

  Scott blinked in surprise.

  ‘Do it anyway,’ Melissa whispered, and Bella could see Blake steel himself for a task he didn’t relish. He took the scissors Scott handed him in shaky fingers and sawed his way through the sinewy tissue. When Tina was finally separated from her mother, Blake put the scissors down. Any remaining colour drained from his face, his eyes rolled and he flopped bonelessly back into the chair.

  Bella stifled a smile and gently directed his head down to his knees and held him there until he groaned. ‘What happened?’ he mumbled.

  ‘You were a bit faint. Stay there for a minute. You’ll be fine.’ She caught Scott’s contempt when he raised his eyebrows as if to say, What do you expect? Bella glared back at him and his face crinkled with amusement at her predictable reaction.

  Bella blinked. He was teasing her. It wasn’t something she was used to from Scott and a small unwilling smile tugged at her mouth.

  Sharon leant over to listen to the baby’s heart and breathing and pronounced her fine. Because of Tina’s early arrival they would still keep her in the crib overnight.

  It took another hour for Melissa to be showered, see Tina settled into her humidicrib and then be tucked into her own bed. Finally she was settled enough to let Bella and Blake go.

  Back at Bella’s house, Vivie was up despite the fact that it was barely four a.m.

  Blake was still blown away by the experience of childbirth and couldn’t wait to share his excitement about the night’s events. ‘I think what Bella does for a job is amazing. Imagine being responsible for the safety of a baby so small.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘You all looked so calm!’

  Bella smiled. ‘Being a midwife is the best job in the world. We get to look after all the things that happen naturally. If you want pressure, you take the doctor’s side of it and it’s their job to come in when things start to go wrong. It gets a bit tense then.’

  ‘I suppose so,’ Blake didn’t look like he was ready to go to sleep yet and Bella hid her yawn. Thank goodness it was Sunday today and she could sleep in. This week was going to be a big one at work and she wanted to be refreshed for it. Blake would probably buzz for hours. Vivie didn’t seem in a hurry so she could keep Blake company. Bella stood up.

  ‘I’m sorry, Blake. I have to go to bed. I’ll see you later on.’ Bella carried her cup to the sink and yawned again.

  Blake jumped up. ‘I’ll wash them. Vivie said if I use anything in the kitchen, I have to wash it up. So I’d better do it.’

  Bella met Vivie’s eyes and they both grinned. ‘I think that’s a good idea,’ said Bella, tongue in cheek, and took herself off to bed.

  But she couldn’t sleep. How could so much have happened in so short a time? Apart from tonight’s birth, she had a new nephew, was in charge of a ward, in charge of a bus, in charge of a house with their first male boarder and now Scott was intruding in her life when she didn’t need the distraction.

  The kiss between them earlier had stolen some of her hard-won calm. The feel of his lips against hers, the weight of his hand holding her against the hardness of his chest, his breath mingling with her own. It had been heady stuff and something she’d refused to speculate on in the year since she’d moved back to Gladstone. She really didn’t think she would survive another emotional disaster. She’d just have to refuse to let him distract her.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Monday

  WHEN Bella pulled up for work on Monday morning in Blake’s car, she had a silly grin on her face from the rumbling and roaring sound the car made as it drove along.

  Heads had turned even at six-thirty in the morning and it was a strange but exhilarating feeling and so out of Bella’s experience that she finally understood why people drove hotted-up cars.

  She noticed Scott’s new Volvo was already parked outside. ‘Boring car,’ she muttered, and then laughed at herself. Before she’d locked the car behind her Scott had arrived, with a scowl on his face.

  Bella refused to be cowed by his grumpy look and concentrated on why she was here. They must have had another birth so the day would be a busy one.

  He met her on the kerb. ‘Why are you driving his car?’

  Bella raised her chin. She had finished with being browbeaten by anyone. ‘Need a bit more sleep do you, Scott?’ Bella asked sweetly.

  Scott stopped and tilted his head. An unwilling smile touched his lips and he rubbed the bristles on his chin. ‘Maybe.’

  Bella could feel the shift in their relationship and his acceptance of her mild criticism. Actually, it was pleasant to have a bit of fun with Scott. ‘Light’ was a good way to keep their relationship ‘distant’. Fun was something she hadn’t
ever associated with their past—intensity, awareness, frustration and embarrassment had all been there in spades, but never fun. Maybe her outburst yesterday had cleared the air a little.

  She mentally shrugged. ‘I’d better go in. Night staff will be glad to go home if they’ve had another busy night.’

  Scott nodded and the smile was still in his voice. ‘I’ll do the ward round later. Maybe I’ll be more civil.’

  ‘Sounds good.’ Bella carried on towards the steps and Scott watched her walk away.

  Scott decided Bella had taken his initial shock at seeing her in that boy’s car and flipped it back on him, and he’d deserved it.

  The new Bella would take some getting used to but he had a feeling the journey could be worth the bumps in the road. Maybe he had been insufferable over the last month. He wasn’t usually a moody person but the last week had played havoc with his mind.

  Self-analysis hadn’t really been his forte but Bella’s home truths just kept coming. He sighed and headed for his car but he couldn’t help the curl of his lip as he looked at that boy’s vehicle. ‘“Bite Me”,’ he huffed as he climbed into the Volvo. He still wanted to know why she was driving that car.

  When Scott came back for the ward round, Bella was buried in her office with a mountain of paperwork and he stood at the door for a few heartbeats and watched her. Her head was down and a tiny frown creased her forehead.

  How could he not have seen she’d changed? Probably grown more than he had. Mentally he sighed. He coughed and she looked up. She smiled at him but the smile was distracted.

  ‘You’re back.’ She stated the obvious and he raised his eyebrows.

  ‘Funny, that.’

  Bella ignored his comment and stood up. ‘Abbey’s ready to go this morning, and Melissa’s Tina has had three bradycardias since I’ve been here. She’s self-stimulating but we’re keeping her on the monitor for the rest of the day.’

  He nodded. It wasn’t uncommon for premature babies to have runs of slower heartbeats every now and then, especially after feeds. ‘Sounds sensible. As long as she’s reverting back to normal rate on her own then I’m sure Tina will be fine. She’ll grow out of it,’ Scott reinforced Bella’s thoughts as he followed her down the corridor.

  They entered the first room and Rohan was cooing at his son while Abbey put the last of her pyjamas in a suitcase on the bed.

  ‘Finally get to take your family home with you, Rohan.’ Scott smiled at his partner and winked at Abbey. ‘He’s been like a cat on a hot tin roof, waiting for today, and cancelled a whole morning’s appointments to take you home.’ He concentrated on Abbey. ‘How are you and Lachlan?’

  Abbey smiled serenely down at her baby. ‘I’m well and young Lachlan has moments of unusual interest—but I’m getting the hang of him. It’s certainly easier showing others what to do than mastering it myself.’

  They all laughed and Bella handed Scott the infant stethoscope to perform Lachlan’s discharge check. Rohan laid his son carefully down in the cot and Scott undid the baby’s little jacket to listen to his heart and check his hips. When he’d finished the examination he straightened and ticked off the sections in the newborn health record.

  ‘What do you think of Bella’s new car, Scott?’ Rohan’s intention of teasing Bella fell flat when Scott stunned them all with his vehemence.

  ‘I think she’s irresponsible for driving it and it’s probably a death trap.’

  Jaws dropped around the room and Bella could have kicked both men for ruining the happy going-home mood for Abbey. She brushed past the awkwardness in her quiet voice.

  ‘Don’t take any notice of Scott, he needs another few hours’ sleep and a reality check.’ She smiled at her brother-in-law. ‘The car’s great to drive and if Blake leaves I may have to buy it off him.’

  ‘Like hell,’ Scott muttered, and Bella met her sister’s startled eyes across the bed.

  What’s with him? Abbey seemed to be asking.

  Bella mouthed, ‘Later,’ and everyone pretended that Scott hadn’t said anything unusual.

  Rohan’s eyebrows had nearly disappeared into his hairline. He seemed determined to keep putting his foot in it. ‘I met young Blake over the fence this morning. He’s a bit of a card.’ Scott glanced without expression at Rohan who raised his eyebrows. ‘I’ve always wanted a scorpion tattoo.’

  Abbey laughed and said, ‘I can just see it.’

  The general amusement that followed lightened the tension. The rest of Scott’s visit scraped through as customary.

  Bella practically dragged him into the next room where he seemed to have regained his equanimity for his next patient. By the end of the round things appeared normal on the surface and Bella was glad to push him out of the door.

  When he’d left, Bella headed back to Abbey’s room to see if her sister needed anything before her discharge. She paused at the door and the thought hit her that it was a strange thing to see Abbey as a baby’s mother.

  Even more strange to see her big sister a little unsure of herself when her years of experience should have given her more knowledge and confidence than any other new mother.

  But Bella could see it didn’t work that way and it was a light-bulb moment. Maybe Abbey wasn’t as infallible as Bella had always assumed she was?

  Abbey looked up and smiled and Bella moved into the room. Her brother-in-law left to carry his wife’s suitcase to the car and as soon as he was out of earshot Abbey said, ‘So, what’s going on between you and Scott?’

  ‘Apart from the fact that he’s tired and irritable today?’ Bella shrugged. ‘He came around on Friday and Saturday nights for the bus run and he’s been different ever since.’

  ‘How do you feel about that?’ Abbey looked at her sister with some concern, last year’s attack on both their minds.

  ‘Better than I would have a year ago, but probably because I’ve got my confidence back. It will be a relief not to tread so lightly around him. Maybe we can get along better now.’

  Abbey bit her lip and nodded but her silence spoke volumes. Bella met her eyes. ‘I’m not interested in a relationship with Scott so don’t look at me that way.’

  ‘He’s hurt you once,’ was all Abbey had time to say before Rohan came back into the room and the conversation stopped.

  ‘Scott’s got a bee in his bonnet today,’ Rohan said. ‘When I heard you had a young man move into the house I thought it was a good thing. I don’t think my partner agrees.’

  ‘Scott has old-fashioned ideas.’ Bella shrugged.

  ‘What’s Scott’s problem with this young bloke? The guy’s got good taste in cars.’ Rohan was more interested in Blake’s car if truth be told. ‘I used to lust after an SLR when I was a teenager.’ He glanced at his wife. ‘When I was young and single.’

  ‘Ha!’ Abbey threw a look over her shoulder while she dressed Lachlan in his going-home clothes. ‘You were single but never lived until you came to an exciting town like Gladstone.’

  ‘It’s the scenery I like around here.’ Rohan nodded judiciously. ‘And the beautiful women.’ He swooped and kissed his wife.

  Abbey laughed and rested back in his arms. ‘I think you need to go home with your son.’

  ‘And my wife.’ He kissed her again and they both laughed as Bella slipped from the room. They were like newly-weds, Bella thought. For some people, marriage was the answer, but she liked her new-found self-sufficiency and the fact that she only had to please herself. That way she couldn’t get hurt.

  When Bella arrived home that night, Blake was peeling potatoes in the kitchen for Vivie. Vivie was laughing and young Ro was cruising the furniture on wobbly legs, looking for something to put in his mouth. It was a very domestic picture and Bella had to smile.

  ‘So, what have you guys been up to today?’ Bella asked as she pilfered a carrot stick off the pile.

  Vivie grinned and then swooped to pick up her son and drag Bella from the room. ‘Come and see. Blake fixed one of the chairs in the stud
y.’ Bella followed Vivie into the study and Blake leant on the door and watched them.

  Bella sat experimentally on the seat edge of the stuffed chair. Instead of sinking into it, the chair was surprisingly firm and very comfortable.

  ‘That’s great, Blake. How did you do that?’ Bella bounced a couple of times to experiment.

  ‘I just added a board underneath and repacked the wadding. I’ll do the other one tomorrow.’ Blake grinned. ‘Hope you didn’t mind but it was pretty crook.’

  Bella laughed. ‘I don’t mind at all. And I had fun driving your car.’

  Blake coughed. ‘Driving to work isn’t fun. You should take it for a real run—go out to South West Rocks or down to Port Macquarie. There’s a one-hundred-and-ten zone just past Port. Get it on the highway and really wind it out.’

  Bella couldn’t quite see herself cramped by the speed limit. ‘Thank you for the offer. I might just do that one day.’ They all trooped back into the kitchen. ‘Aunt Sophie and I are going next door to see Abbey in a minute so if you’re looking for me that’s where I’ll be.’

  Abbey’s house already had a visitor. All day at work Scott had thought about Rohan and Abbey, happy with their new family, enjoying all the things he’d never had. Not as a dog in the manger, more as a need to see what it could have been like if his wife had included him in the news of his son’s birth. But even in the early days of his marriage he’d never had that rapport with his ex-wife that flowed between his two closest friends.

  Although Scott had only intended a brief drop-in, Rohan had pressed him to stay and they had just finished the late afternoon tea the proud father had prepared.

  Abbey stood up to answer her baby’s cry from the bedroom. ‘I’ll leave you boys. My new master is calling and I want to change him before Aunt Sophie comes across.’

  Scott stood as well. ‘If you’re having visitors, I’ll go, too.’

  Rohan waved him back into his seat. ‘Sit for a minute. I want to talk to you.’

  Scott eyed his friend warily as he sank back into his chair. ‘That sounds ominous.’