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The tere left alone in the patient bay with the curtain pulled around it for privacy Greg didn’t see that they had any choice but to call his parents and ask for help Shelly pitched the sa tuned her out The hospital notified the obstetrician on call and he was there within the hour There was a murmured conference at the nurses’ station before the doctor ca was asked to wait in the hall while he did a pelvic exa roo television, an activity ordinarily forbidden Greg returned to the admissions desk and asked to use the phone He called his parents and told the on Patrick asked to speak to the ades would be covered, saying he and his ere on their way down Greg returned to the curtained cubicle where he could hear Shelly shrieking at the doctor, telling hi rubber glove A nurse at the far end of the hall turned and gave hi closed his eyes He wished, just once, she’d act like a nor was ato soothe and contain her fury

The doctor pulled the curtain aside and asked Greg to come in Shelly’s feet were out of the stirrups by then and she was sitting on the gurney with the sheet pulled around her and tucked under her arms, so furious she refused to look at either one of the as well Dr Frantz told thes folded in front He suggested a C-section, but Shelly was veheht Nobody could tell her what to do The doctor was carefully neutral, his face blank He acceded to her wishes "for the moment," as he put it Shelly said, "Ha ha ha!" to his back Greg thought the guy would turn around and punch her, but he continued down the hall, his heels clicking smartly on the polished tile floor

She was admitted After the nurse attached her hospital band she put Shelly in a wheelchair to take her upstairs to the labor and delivery unit Greg accompanied them as far as the elevator and waited until the door closed before he returned to the waiting roo Deborah and Patrick arrived By then, Shaas curled up asleep on a plastic chair in one corner Patrick took him back to the house while Deborah went up the elevator with Greg and sat with Shelly for the next four hours Twice the doctor ht back Deborah had to give Shelly credit for the fact that she endured hard labor without uttering a peep Of course, she was putting both herself and the baby at risk

After thirteen hours, when little or no progress had been made, Dr Frantz laid down the law Deborah was allowed to remain in the room while he explained the impasse If the fetus was born bottoh the et stuck at the level of the chin With this condition, known as a trapped head, the possibility of injury was high Once the baby’s body eed, the umbilical cord would cease to pulsate, which would cut off the oxygen supply With the baby’s head still inside, the infant wouldn’t breathe on its own Without surgical intervention, there was a better than even chance the baby would die

It seemed clear to Deborah there was only one choice She wanted to shake Shelly until her head rattled, the ansas so obvious Even Greg was in favor, urging Shelly to consent By then, she was too worn down to protest They prepped her for surgery and rolled her into the delivery room Patricia Lorraine Unruh was born on July 14, 1963: six pounds, four ounces; twenty inches long; and bald as an egg Greg and Shelly called her Rain

Deborah went home and had a stiff drink

Shelly and the baby were in the hospital three days Greg spent most of that time at her side while Deborah was left to cope with Shawn At first, whatever Deborah suggested, he would voice the doctrine according to hisher tenets as an article of faith It was nearly co frou lunch with her The two of thearden, the beach, the Museuht but interested and quick to learn Deborah revised her view of hian to enjoy his co clothes He had a sense of whimsy she hadn’t seen before

Shelly came home, still in pain, incapacitated in the afteruest rooile and her defenses were down Sheand Shawn re under the covers with the curtains in the roo postpartuether She was hury so much as silenced now that Nature had betrayed her and she had nothing to boast about How could she espouse heras elementary as the natural delivery she’d anticipated with such confidence? She’d had the wind knocked out of her sails In the absence of dogely deflated Deborah looked on fro to do so Any gesture on her part would signal a compassion that Shelly was ill equipped to receive