BREAKING POINT

“Oh, you will be worse before you are better, dear. Now, don’t you carry on. You will forget all about it when it’s over. I have seen dozens vowing that they will never have another baby while this is going on and once it’s over they start talking about their next ”

Penny gave an hysterical laugh. Her next! There might never be a next. Perhaps this would be her last. Oh God, what a pain… It would be her last. She was not going through this again for anybody.

Joey called up that he was in touch with the doctor and he would be here shortly. Audrey left Penny to nurse Caroline, and suddenly Penny felt horribly deserted, left in the hands of a stranger who had complete control over her just as this pain was controlling her body. She could not get away from any of it.

Nurse Caroline was a nice little woman with grey hair and powerful spectacles behind which there beamed a pair of blue and kindly eyes..

The pains went on. They went on for hours and it seemed to Penny that they would never stop. She was in bed now, in that cleanly made, rubber sheeted bed, fixed up by nurse Caroline’s professional hands, and the nurse was sitting beside her saying comforting things and rubbing her back when the pains came. But once or twice Penny cried out:

“Don’t touch me. Don’t…..”

She could not bear to be touched. The pain was engulfing her… Obliterating her completely. It was as though a demon possessed her body and fought with her and laughed at her because she could not fight back.

Nurse Caroline said it was all quite normal and that she would have to bear it but it seemed to Penny quite intolerable. Only in between the pains she lay exhausted, drained of strength and tried to gather courage for the next demonic attack. The tears were running down her face. Weakly, she said,

“Don’t let it go on, nurse…. It can’t go on”

“There dear, there” said nurse Caroline and held her hand. “The doctor is here. He will give you something”

But the doctor could not give her much. After a brief examination and a talk in the corner with the nurse he came back to Penny’s bed and took her hand. He checked her pulse and said.

“I know it hurts but I want you to try and stick it. I don’t want you to have any dope at the moment. It only retards the birth. Do you see what I mean? You shall have something later on, I promise you”

She looked at him with enormous frightened eyes.

“Hasn’t it been going on long enough?” she asked.

“Not very long yet. You can bear a bit more, can’t you. You want your baby to be well and strong and I’m all against acting too soon in these cases. I like to let nature have its way for a bit”

She tried to laugh, her tweet chattering with the sudden pain that convulsed her. She held on to the doctors hand.

“I’m all…. Against… Nature… From tonight on” she tried to laugh, the swear drenching her.

Dr James was a kind man and he had a soft spot in his heart for this beautiful young creature. He had seen a lot of child birth and he was no stranger to pain, but he was aware that there was a good bit of mental agony behind all this which made the business worse. He looked at his watch and then he turned back to the nurse.

“If things aren’t moving any faster than this after another hour I would like you to give her this injection” he said “but I’m hoping it may not be necessary”

He moved right away from the bed. Outside the door they whispered together.

Penny closed her eyes. The points of her nails dug into the palms of her hands as she clenched them. She felt so horribly tired and she wanted Jeremy.

‘Oh Jeremy, for heavens sake walk in through the door and hold on to me and stop this pain. You can do it. You could always do anything you wanted with me. Why does a baby take so long to push its way out into the world? Other women have theirs in a few hours. This has been going on for six hours already, yet nurse Caroline says it isn’t very long ‘

Penny hoped they would give her the injection. She hoped they would do something.

She yawned and as she did so her body was convulsed in another pain. Her moaning cry brought nurse Caroline back to her side.

“Audrey” Penny said on a high note. “Audrey”

Audrey came running up the stairs and stood beside the bed looking with tender compassion at Penny’s flushed face and those wide tormented eyes. Poor darling Penny. Poor helpless Penny.Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

Just now Audrey had asked her brother if everything was going to be all and he had said James was a little on the worried side but it was too early to tell. Penny was one of these slim, highly strung, highly emotional women who suffered more acutely, perhaps, than others. And the baby was big. But she would be alright there was no question of that.

Penny hung on to Audrey, crying weakly.

“I’m not very brave, I’m afraid. I’m a frightful coward about it, but it is hell”

“I’m sure it is, darling” said Audrey and took a sponge wrung out in cold water and wiped the beautiful hair back from the hot, damp forehead. “Hang on Penny, if you can, and it will be alright. Joey says so”

The pains continued with increasing frequency for another hour. Penny wondered how much longer she could survive them. One after the other they came, nurse Caroline still saying that they were not very strong yet and that it was nowhere near the end

Doctor James came back in the room. Penny saw that they were going to give her an injection. She didn’t care about anything else anymore. She didn’t care what happened to her to the baby. They could both die. She wished they would. She couldn’t go on.

There was an instant pain as the needle slipped into her thigh… Then blessed relief. She floated in a world in which there was no longer agony. She felt drowsy and heavy eyed and suddenly she smiled and muttered a name :

“Jeremy”