Eve by Cat Bohannon;

Author:Cat Bohannon; [Bohannon, Cat]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House LLC
Published: 2023-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

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The girl’s womb heaved and clenched. The old woman had to be careful. If she tore something, her granddaughter would bleed to death. And the child would probably die, too. The cervix was wide—that was good—and the girl’s hips felt loose on either side. There was the foot, but she felt just one of them. If only one leg came down…

Time was rushing by, the girl’s life on the line, so she did the first thing she thought of—she pushed the foot back up into the womb. The baby’s knee tucked up near the chest. With two fingers, she felt for the baby’s slippery bottom, talking softly to calm her granddaughter down. She was delirious with pain.

As quickly as she could, the old woman pushed hard on the girl’s open legs, and she heard one of the femurs slip out of its hip joint with a great wet pop. The child came quickly after that—butt first, arms tucked tightly around the chest. A boy. Figures. The old woman placed him on his mother’s stomach, and they both rubbed the newborn’s back. He wasn’t blue. He wasn’t crying either, but they could see him breathing. He’d live.

She wasn’t sure about her granddaughter. The girl was pale and sweaty, her legs soaked in blood. The old woman’s sister reached over to try to tug on the umbilical cord, but the old woman moved her hand away. It was better to let the placenta come out on its own. They’d tugged on one of her aunt’s umbilical cords once, and a great rush of blood followed.

The next hour or two was critical. If the girl survived it, the old woman would deal with her injured hip. She told her sister to keep the gawkers out of the hut. Nothing to do now but wait.

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