A Child for Sale: Utterly gripping and heartbreaking historical fiction about a home for unmarried mothers by Pam Howes

Author:Pam Howes [Howes, Pam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781800197916
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2023-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

Anna struggled to climb up on the couch to be examined. Typically, neither nun gave her a helping hand, keeping their backs to her and pretending to be busy at the table that held a variety of medical implements. Anna was short and the couch was a bit too high. She huffed and puffed and eventually managed to heave herself up before lying down flat on her back. As she let out a huge sigh of relief, one of the nuns turned to her and ordered, ‘Lift up your smock and expose your abdomen please, Miss Brown.’

Anna did as she was asked and held her breath while the nun palpated her baby bump from top to bottom. She measured the area with a tape measure and listened with a stethoscope at strategic points. Frowning, she picked up a metal trumpet-shaped instrument that Anna knew was called a pinard and pressed it firmly on Anna’s stomach, moving it from area to area.

She beckoned for the other nun to take over and handed her the stethoscope too. Anna wondered why she was frowning. She could feel her baby wriggling around, so she knew it was definitely still alive and kicking. She flinched as the first nun listened again with the pinard pressed a little too firmly near her bladder area and hoped to God she wouldn’t disgrace herself. She should have popped to the lavvy before coming behind the screens.

The second nun nodded her head and said she would ask Sister Ursula to have a listen. She dashed away and Anna moved herself up the couch and leant up on her elbows. ‘Is everything okay?’ she asked the first nun.

‘Yes, everything is fine,’ she brusquely assured Anna. ‘Sometimes we just need a second opinion. Please lie back down again.’

As Anna lay down again she heard Sister Ursula’s voice coming closer and then she marched in, thrusting the screens away as she bustled through. The first nun pulled them closed as Sister Ursula picked up the pinard and repeated what the other nuns had done. She nodded her head, whispered something to the first nun and left the confined space as quickly as she had arrived.

The first nun checked Anna’s blood pressure and took a quick look at her ankles, and then ordered her to sit up and pull her smock back down. ‘It would appear that you are expecting twins, Miss Brown. There are two strong heartbeats and you are definitely much bigger than we would expect you to be at this stage of pregnancy. We will inform Sister Celia this afternoon and she will have a chat with you about your future care for the next few weeks. It’s hard to say at this stage when the babies are actually due, but I would estimate that they will arrive in approximately eight weeks. We must ask you to keep this news to yourself for the time being. Now, if you would like to ask Miss Sims to come in as you leave.

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