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The next thing I check for is the presenting part I runfor the baby’s head Finally I think I find it, a hard bulge the size of a sht side, alh

A couple of explanations come to me: This mother has had more than five children, and her abdominal muscles and womb are so flaccid that even a full-term baby could float around in there any way it likes Or, and this is potentially e fibroid tumor or, even worse, the afterbirth, stuck low in the wo to do would be to leave at once for Liberty and get help, but that option isn’t open We have no transport except Thomas Proudfoot’s burros And even if the ca country roads it would take over an hour to get to the big hospital in Torrington Finally there’s the issue of money It’s clear that Mr Cabrini doesn’t have any Dr Blum, in Liberty, has toldpatients, and God knohat the hospital in Torrington costs

I open loves I didn’t have time to use at Katherine’s birth They’re still clean, sterilized with bleach, and wrapped in roasted newspaper The only way to find out what’s going on is to do an internal exaainst the law

The West Virginia Midwifery Statute of 1925 bansinternal exams We are also "expressly forbidden to assist labor by any artificial, forcible or mechanical erous or poisonous drugs" The local ht to prescribe and treat In addition, the law requires that we ood moral character" I s the rules, I adjust loves I’m already wanted for far worse criinal exa eyes

"Delfina, I need you to open your legs so I can feel what’s keeping the baby fro" The husband turns away and steps out on the porch, aware that this is feirl as an interpreter, and she creeps up on the bed

"What’s your name?" I ask the dirty-faced urchin

"Antonia"

"Antonia, can you tell your mama that I need her to lift her bottoain so I can wash her and feel where the baby’s head is? Tell her I will be very gentle It won’t hurt"

As the girl explains this in Italian, the woman does what I say and lets her knees fall apart With the nen soap I got at Stenger’s when I purchased the gloves, I carefully wipe her bottoers If the afterbirth is attached too low and I poke a hole in it, Delfina will bleed to death Then I will lose bothNo foot, head, or butt poking through the opening of the cervix No cervix, either The patient is fully dilated Gently I palpate the loall of the worowth or soft squishy afterbirth but find none This is good news, but then what’s keeping the baby frohtly around the infant’s neck, another potential disaster If the woorously, the cord will make a noose and choke the baby or, even worse, pull the afterbirth away froers out and stare at the wall, where a carved wooden crucifix hangs over the bed

I gave up on the church a long tiious In fact, I’ll admit it: since Lawrence, my first love, perished in the train wreck and then years later Ruben,the battle of Blair Mountain, one out

Still, looking at the carving, I silently ask Jesus and ive it a try," I , the baby will eventually die, then the mother will beco, there’s a chance; the baby and ht live"

The et your father"

Clouds have co dark, but when Izzie returns with the water and reaches up to turn a knob above the hanging bulb, the newspaper-covered walls burst into harsh light

"Mr Cabrini, the safest thing to do is get your wife to the doctor in Liberty or the bigger hospital in Torrington, but I don’t think that’s possible without putting Delfina and the baby inin the way The infant is alive, but the head is too high I think we can get the baby out in a few minutes if you’ll help us and maybe a few other women from the camp"

Izzie shakes his head no "The wooes They think we take theirwith the Wobblies in Pittsburgh, I’d thought that all workers would stick together, but I aradual failure of the economy, there has been less need for steel and even less for coal, and the unions have all but disbanded To cut costs, the rants from the North and blacks from the South Local men live in fear for their jobs, and their women try to protect them

"Okay" I think for a minute "Then I’ll need you and the oldest boy to help Tell him he won’t have to look" The man throws his hands into the air and spits out a feords in Italian It’s clear he doesn’t like this The girl argues back in their native tongue, and he slams out the homemade oak door

At last, reluctantly, Mr Cabrini and his son of about nine return and we’re ready While he was gone, I straightened the bed, propped up the limp patient, and laid outto tie off the cord, clean rags, and a pan of warh her daughter, re the patient, by the appellation "Mother," what her suffering is about "The baby’s head is too high and the cord may be wrapped around his or her neck, so on’t have much time" I wait for the translation