“Just tell me what to do,” Thomas said.
“You push on her abdomen, here, when I tell you.”
Together the two men struggled and Betsy cried out and moaned.
“Hang on, Betsy,” Thomas said, looking pale as he glanced at his cousin’s contorted face.
Dr. Kendall looked again beneath the sheets. He swore beneath his breath. “I shall have to use the forceps.”
“No! Please, no ...” Betsy moaned and began sobbing. They all knew the dangers for both mother and child with the dreaded instrument.
“Mrs. Henning ...?” Betsy beseeched.
The older woman shook her head grimly. “Nothing else I can do, love.”
Betsy turned her head toward her cousin. “Thomas, please. Do something,” she begged.
Thomas nodded and said to Dr. Kendall, “May I try?”
Before Dr. Kendall could answer, Thomas was already moving into position at the foot of the bed, leaving Kendall little choice but to step aside.
“There now, Betsy, relax. Everything’s going to be all right. Just relax now—ease those muscles.”
Hunching low, one hand propped on the bed and the other reaching under the sheet, Thomas’s face was gripped in concentration.
“Sorry, Betsy, won’t be long. Try to relax.”
“All right, Thomas, all right,” Betsy panted.
“There’s the little one. I feel his head and neck. Come on, little one, come on ...”
His expression tightened with the effort of tempered strength.
Betsy cried out.
“Not yet, not yet. Now push!”
Betsy gritted her teeth and pushed.
“Here he comes. Here he comes.”
Thinking swiftly, Charlotte pulled out the bottom drawer of Betsy’s dresser and laid the first baby into it. Then she leapt forward to hand Thomas a clean sheet left there for this purpose.
“That’s it—get ready to catch him, Miss Charlotte.”
With a final cry, Betsy pushed and Thomas retracted his arm and together he and Charlotte guided the slick infant into the sheet.
Relieved and revived, Mrs. Henning hurried over and helped Charlotte rub the infant dry and clean out her mouth and nose before handing her to Dr. Kendall.
“It’s another girl, Betsy,” Mrs. Henning announced.
“Is she all right? I don’t hear anything—is she breathing?”
Dr. Kendall carefully turned the child upside down. When she didn’t respond, he swatted her gently on her bottom, then once again more smartly. The baby whined, then broke out in an angry cry. Dr. Kendall handed the child to Betsy, and her tears became those of joy.
“Oh, thank you. Thank you, all.”
Charlotte turned to look at Thomas. Dr. Kendall was staring at him too, clearly impressed. “How did you know to do that?” he asked.
