Post by Selwyn nó Balm on Mar 27, 2007 16:55:15 GMT -5
“Selwyn! Selwyn!” called out Mother. “Come quickly, the butcher’s wife is in labor; we must go to her.”
Quickly, I jumped up from where I was playing and ran to the cupboard to fetch Mother’s midwife’s kit. “Here, Mother.”
Gratefully, she took it. Planting a kiss on my head and taking my hand in hers, we hurried down the road to the town.
The butcher’s wife, Raya, was found in her bed, huffing and puffing as she labored. Mother bent over her to examine her progress. “’Tis a breech birth,” she said sadly. She didn’t say the second part. We must cut her open. Somberly I handed Mama the scalpels, sharp as flechettes, as she administered a poppy tonic designed to knock out the mother. Once Raya was sleeping soundly, Mother quietly opened her belly, so smoothly that she didn’t even tear. The child was there, wrapped in its bloody sac. Quickly, Mama removed the whole baby, sac and all, and handed it to me to be washed. She then began the process of sewing Raya up.
The infant, wailing, was washed and his, for it was a boy, cord was cut. I wrapped him in a blanket and brought him out to his father, when I heard Mother’s cry. “She bleeds!”
Slowly, but profusely, she was bleeding, and it would not stop. I heard Mother mumbling, “By the gods, what will stop this?”
“Bluebell, Mother,” I said quietly, trying to ease her out of her panic. “That will stop the bleeding.”
Hurriedly, Mother ground the herb into a paste and administered it to the cut. Before long it was clotting and soon after Raya awoke to put her infant to the breast.
“You did well, Selwyn,” said Mother. “I think it’s time for you to think about Balm House.”
Quickly, I jumped up from where I was playing and ran to the cupboard to fetch Mother’s midwife’s kit. “Here, Mother.”
Gratefully, she took it. Planting a kiss on my head and taking my hand in hers, we hurried down the road to the town.
The butcher’s wife, Raya, was found in her bed, huffing and puffing as she labored. Mother bent over her to examine her progress. “’Tis a breech birth,” she said sadly. She didn’t say the second part. We must cut her open. Somberly I handed Mama the scalpels, sharp as flechettes, as she administered a poppy tonic designed to knock out the mother. Once Raya was sleeping soundly, Mother quietly opened her belly, so smoothly that she didn’t even tear. The child was there, wrapped in its bloody sac. Quickly, Mama removed the whole baby, sac and all, and handed it to me to be washed. She then began the process of sewing Raya up.
The infant, wailing, was washed and his, for it was a boy, cord was cut. I wrapped him in a blanket and brought him out to his father, when I heard Mother’s cry. “She bleeds!”
Slowly, but profusely, she was bleeding, and it would not stop. I heard Mother mumbling, “By the gods, what will stop this?”
“Bluebell, Mother,” I said quietly, trying to ease her out of her panic. “That will stop the bleeding.”
Hurriedly, Mother ground the herb into a paste and administered it to the cut. Before long it was clotting and soon after Raya awoke to put her infant to the breast.
“You did well, Selwyn,” said Mother. “I think it’s time for you to think about Balm House.”