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 in much poorer condition, and in resuscitation the more hands the better.’
‘The maternal positioning worked very well. My memories of shoulder dystocia were always fraught with a dread that was missing tonight.’ He smiled.
‘You were both remarkably calm.’
‘There’s some anxiety when you see a very large baby like Trina’s. But we do drills for that scenario at least once a week so if there’s a delay we can move straight into the positions. Because we knew Trina’s baby was larger, Misty would have spoken to her about what to do if needed and good positions to try. But it can happen with small babies too.’
He dropped his arm around her shoulders, and it was companionable, not sexual. Not something she would have believed possible earlier. ‘You must be very proud of your team here.’
‘We are.’ His arm felt warm and heavy but not a heaviness she wanted to shrug off. A heaviness of wanting to snuggle in and encourage more snuggling. She shifted away from that concept quick-smart and he picked up the tiny movement and slid his arm away. She pretended she didn’t miss it. ‘And the women and their families love the centre and the choice it gives them. We’ve quite a clientele from the larger centres coming here to birth and then going home from here.’
They were crossing the car park to Tammy’s car and Tammy suddenly realised how at ease she felt with this big, quiet Italian. How she’d just expected that if Trina’s baby had been compromised by a long delay before the rest of her body was able to be birthed, that Leon would be there to help. Despite his denial that he’d had much to do with new babies, she had unshakable conviction that his skills would be magnificent.
You can’t tell that, a voice inside her insisted. But just like she knew that Misty could see things without proof or concrete evidence, she knew that Leon Bonmarito would be a great asset in Lyrebird Lake. Not that there was much chance of him hanging round.
She paused beside her car to speak and he took the opportunity to open her car door for her. She frowned. No one had done that for her for years and she wasn’t sure she liked the warm and pampered feeling it left her with. As if abdicating her independence. But that uneasiness didn’t stop her invitation. ‘Perhaps I’ll see you tomorrow night. If you find yourself at a loose end after Paulo’s in bed.’
He inclined his head. ‘Three in a row? What will people say?’ At her arrested expression he laughed softly and looked around at the sleeping town. ‘Your townspeople bed early, I doubt anyone is awake to notice.’
What would they notice? There was nothing to see. She’d done nothing wrong. Nobody could construe otherwise but it was as well he reminded her. She’d vowed to remain squeaky clean and the soul of discretion once she’d had Jack. Lyrebird Lake had given her tarnished youth a brand-new, shiny start, and there’d never been any hint of wayward behaviour to jeopardise that from Dr Ben’s daughter.
She looked up at him, confident she’d done nothing wrong, nothing remotely possible to compromise her good name, and her chin lifted as she peered up at him in the dimness. Unexpectedly she perceived the unmistakable glint in those bedroom eyes of his. The breath caught in her throat and she moistened her lips to make the words, at the very least, sound relaxed. ‘Notice what?’
‘Perhaps this?’ His hands came up and cupped both cheeks to prevent her escape, not with force but with warmth and gentleness and definite intent. His head bent and his chiselled lips met hers with an unmistakable purpose that spun her away from