Farewell to the East End Read Online Free PDF Page B

admittedly brief abdominal examination. From appearances, he seemed to weigh no more than four pounds. ‘No doubt due to malnutrition and overwork in the mother during pregnancy,’ she thought bitterly. It was not uncommon. She clamped the cord in two places, and cut between the clamps. The baby was now a separate being.
    But where should she put him? There was no cot, no blankets, he was small, and the room was cold. He must be kept warm.
    She pressed him firmly under his mother’s arm.
    ‘Keep him warm with your body. Haven’t you got anything I can wrap him in?’
    The girl was contentedly cuddling her naked baby and paid no attention to what was being said. Ruth opened the chest of drawers. There was a towel in the top drawer. She opened the second drawer. There were a couple of jumpers in it. She opened the third drawer, which was empty. ‘This will have to do,’ she thought, taking up the towel and jumpers. They were all cold, but thankfully did not feel damp.
    ‘Just lift your head and shoulders a minute, will you, Kathy? I want to put these things under your body to warm them, before I wrap your baby in them.’
    She pulled the dirty grey blankets over the girl and baby to keep them warm and sat on the chair beside the girl to await the third stage of labour. A few minutes passed. She placed her hand on the abdomen to assess progress. ‘Something’s not right here,’ she thought. The uterus felt hard and bulky, and a strong contraction was developing. Kathy grit her teeth and started to bear down. Ruth leaped into action.
    ‘There’s another baby coming! Don’t push, whatever you do, don’t push – just pant, like you did before.’
    Kathy was tensing all her muscles, and the baby lying under her arm was in danger of being crushed. Ruth grabbed the towel and jumpers and pulled them sharply from under the girl’s body, then took the baby from her. She wrapped him up quickly, and put him in the top drawer of the chest.
    She returned to the bedside, pulled back the blankets and saw the head of the second baby emerging. She was just in time to control a rapid delivery.
    With a twin birth, if the lie of the second baby is in a normal head-down position, if the uterine activity is normal, and especially if the baby is small, the birth can be fairly quick, because the birth canal has stretched, and there will be little resistance. Two or three good strong contractions may be sufficient to complete the birth. Kathy’s second delivery was swift and easy, and within a few minutes the baby was lying on his mother’s abdomen. She stretched out a hand to touch him. Her voice sounded incredulous. ‘Another baby! It can’t be true.’
    ‘It is true, Kathy. You have another little boy.’
    Kathy stroked his head. ‘Another little boy,’ she repeated vaguely. Her blue eyes were wide and dreamy, and her body was limp after the exertion. Her voice sounded far away.
    ‘Another little sailor boy. Oh, you poor wet little thing. And where’s your daddy, little sailor, where’s your daddy? He sailed away on the deep blue sea. Sailed far away.’
    Ruth took Kathy’s pulse and blood pressure, which were slightly lowered, but not too much. She knew that she had been lucky in having no complications for which medical assistance, or at least another midwife, would have been necessary.
    ‘You are a healthy girl,’ she said aloud. “How did you get yourself into this pickle?’
    Kathy smiled dreamily. “Oh, that sailor boy. His curling hair, his night-black eyes, and oh, his saucy smile! Somehow I knew he wouldn’t be true. Never trust a sailor, they said, and silly me, I did. Now I’ve got two little sailor boys. What’s me mammy going to say? And me grandma? She’s the one I’m frightened of. A real terror, she is. If you knew her, you’d be frightened too, nurse.’
    Kathy sighed sleepily, and closed her eyes. ‘I feel so tired now,’ she murmured, and fell fast asleep.
    Ruth had many practical duties to