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The aunties whip the pilloay and help theblack curls crowns at the opening
"Sweet Jesus! I’onna faint," the shorter of the trio exclai an afterbirth that looks like a two-pound calf liver The cord is only eight inches long! Quick as a wink Mrs Potts ties it off and hands the baby to Mildred, raps the tiny crying girl in a clean towel
"Praise Jesus!" "Thank the Lord!" everyone exclaims
Another healthy baby If I believed in God, I would bon
Hee
The blood that folloithinweren’t bad enough I startto it as if it could hear "No, you don’t You stop bleeding! Stop it right now!"
"Get your fist back in there," Mrs Potts orders I knohat she means, but I’ve never done it before It’s called, by DeLee, bimanual compression There’s a picture of the procedure in my obstetrics textbook "Use your other hand on the outside Fold the floppy uterus over your fist and hold on tight" The older midwife spits out her instructions as she fumbles behind her for a small brown bottle on the dresser "Drink this," Mrs Potts commands Bitsy holds the flask to Cassie’s lips
Potts is in total control now and the blood is slowing, so I try to reo back in and hold on when I see the hear," Potts demands, and the shortest of the three ladies trots to the kitchen, returning with a sent liquid over one of s and hands it to ar will help stop the hee while the blue cohosh and shepherd’s purse tincture that we gave her takes effect Any tiress, be ready for this If the bleeding doesn’t stop pretty quick, we’ll try ice"
At the sight of so much blood, the three musketeers, Mildred, Samantha, and Emma, have backed out the door with the baby Bitsy takes Cassie’s hand, softly singing "Joshua fit the battle of JerichoJericho" into her ear to keep her calm
"Ice?"
"Ice in the uterus will cause the blood to contract" I think she eons using ice to stop a he a cesarean section, but it always seemed to me it would cause such shock that a woman would die of chill instead of blood loss
Mrs Potts takes Cassie’s wrist while she stares at her gold atch, the kind nurses have, and her lips irl, Cassie We’ll have you fixed up in aout and all the thickened blood you can find," the elderly lady instructsa handful of clots the size of chicken gizzards Mrs Potts then takes over and fro out a dishrag More clots plop out, and I wipe theht, then!" the oldbreath and kisses her patient on the top of her head "You can stop rubbing now Bitsy, check every few minutes and make sure the womb stays firm" My assistant--I think of her that way already--knohat to do fro down both sides of Cassie’s face "Let’s give the et it on the teat That will help the as I wash up at the kitchen sink, I take a big breath Bitsy cleans up the bedroom, and Mrs Potts dresses the infant’s cord Outside, the sky lifts the pink hee
"Here, honey" Mildred, who turns out to be the baby’s granny and the mistress of the house, hands me one of her clean housedresses to wear over e in my bedroom"
"Mr Miller! Reverend Miller! All clear!" She calls out the back door to her husband and thein the barn "Come on in Food’s on the table!"
By the ti in the kitchen "There’s a rainbow ’roundThe older , and shocks ie at the kitchen door In the parlor she sits down to reorganize her birth kit, so Bitsy and I sit down beside her
"I try to keep everything fresh," she tells us, giving instructions as if she’s talking to herself "You never knohen you o out as often as I used to" Her little brown eyes sparkle at Bitsy, then at"Do you need so lass vessel out and I take it, grateful for the gift
"What’s in it, again? Is it so I could make myself, or is it private?" In the Appalachian Mountains cooks jealously guard their recipes for black velvet cake, potato salad, fried chicken, and sticky buns It ht be the same with medicinal tonics
"Don’t be foolish If it could help save a mother’s life, of course I’d want you to have it" She proceeds to write down, on a torn piece of wrapping paper, the herbs she uses and how to prepare them as Mildred pokes her head into the hall
"Come on, Auntie Potts! You’re first to eat and then Patience" I shtfulness and am a little surprised when I enter the kitchen In this household, at least after the hard work of birthing, the woainst the wall or the counter, eyeing the food There’s Thoton, the father of the new baby; and an older gentle around, a sea of black and brown faces, with mine as white as the full moon in October I note that no children are present and decide that in this tight-knit co attendants down the road
As if she lives here, Bitsy steps up to the table and begins to serve collards andwith meat sandwiches on homemade white bread Mildred takes a breakfast tray into the bedroom for Cassie and Darwin