Happening In Life.
Happening.
My life has been full. Too numerous to pick one such incident which
really stands out more than the other.
Fixing
the foot valve on the windmill was a saga. But the words are hard to
find to express my father's feelings at the time would be
unprintable. Suffice to say the air turned blue. Tiny. The guy
helping us to do the work let the pipe slip from the chain to fall to
the bottom of the borehole.
We
sat beneath the windmill for hours to try to lasso the pipe then
winch it out of the mud. Then out of the ground piece by piece until
all the pipe had been removed. The foot valve was replaced. The pipe
then had to be lowered down the bore hole. Tiny wasn't allowed any
where near the windmill workings until all was secured in place.
Or I
could have explained the horror week after family members were
injured in a car accident. My husband, His friend. Daughter. And son.
They all went for a Saturday afternoon drive to return a guy to his
place of work on the other side of the Sarina Range.
Worry
began to set in when the sun fell beyond the horizon. Next came a
phone call from the police asking a lot of questions. They had
received a radio message from a truckie. He had reported an accident
scene he'd come across on the top of the range.
The
accident could have been worse than it was if my son didn't have the
foresight to climb from the upturned car. He found a torch. He
flagged down the semi which was the first vehicle to come along.
Luckily, for everyone. Philip was the only one functioning to think.
All he had received was a blood nose.
I
took off to the accident scene after leaving a note for the rest of
the family. The trip up. And down the range. I don't remember much
about. I arrived a few seconds after the police. There were no people
at the accident scene. The truckie, and Philip, had removed the other
three from the car. Loaded them into the semi. Then he drove them to
the ambulance station.
I
finally, tracked them down at the local hospital. My husband suffered
a fractured cheek bone. His friend had a couple of fractures of the
neck. Nicole didn't look like her usual self. Her face was badly
bruised, and swollen. Nicole was found to have her jaw broken in
three places. A vein has ruptured in her head. She had to be flown to
Brisbane for a few operations to stop the bleed. And repair her jaw.
It was broken in three places. Everyone fully recovered over time.
Then
I could have explained about my animals. I had moved to a small
acreage to be able to have a couple of horses. That is all the
animals I had intended to have. Within a matter of weeks, I had a lot
of different animals. Fowls. Geese. Dog. Cats. And pigs. Between my
father, and his friends, I seemed to end up with all the strays
everyone wanted to give away.
But I
decided to tell about the time my daughter, Leanne, was pregnant.
Leanne, and her sister-in-law, were due to have their baby in the
same week. They both wanted to name their baby, Mitchell. If either
of them had a son. So the race was on to be the one to deliver their
baby first.
On
the eighteenth of October, Leanne, went into the hospital with pains.
Didn't happen. She came home later in the day. I had been kept busy
at work, and home, all day. The whole week had been busy. The pigs
began to deliver their litter. Chickens, and ducklings, were hatched.
The cat had her kittens.
Thursday
night. Even though I went to be at a reasonable hour. I didn't have
more than a few minutes sleep. I could hear Leanne, and BJ,
discussing what they should do while she paced the floor. I lay in
bed listening. Waiting to hear who would win the discussion.
“You
can't have your mother drive you to the hospital You'll have the baby
along the road.”
“No.
I won't. Mum will have me there faster than the ambulance. We won't
have to fill all the paperwork out. Again.”
“But.
They will be there to deliver the baby. Your mother can't deliver the
baby.”
“But
she'll have me at the hospital for the doctor to deliver my baby.”
“Fine.
Be it on your head if something goes wrong.”
A few
seconds later Leanne was at the bedroom doorway.
“Mum.
Are you awake?”
“Yeah.”
I threw back the bed covers to get out of bed.
“I
need to go to the hospital. I want you to take me.”
“Okay.
Give me a moment to dress.”
Moments
later. We were headed down the driveway on the forty-four kilometre
drive to the hospital. Leanne rode with me. BJ followed behind in his
hotted up, sporty car, thinking this would be a slow, long trip. But
the trip was fast. And uneventful.
“I
didn't know your mother could drive so fast,” were the words I
heard when the passenger door was opened.
“I
told you so.”
I
waited at the hospital until the sun began to rise. I left to drive
home to wake Nicole to go to work.
“Where's
Leanne?”
“What
do you mean. Didn't you hear all the noise?”
“No.
What happened?”
“I
had to drive her to the hospital. Didn't you hear the car start?”
“Didn't
hear, anything. Has she had the baby?”
I
drove Nicole to work. I returned home to feed the animals. Tiredness
began to set in. I worked at a slow pace. I took longer than usual to
feed, and clean, the animals.
I
trudged slowly up the hill to the house. I headed to the bathroom to
have a shower to wash away the smell from cleaning the pig”s sty.
Sleep
was calling me. I made myself comfortable on the bed to catch up on
many hours of lost sleep. I began to drift off when the phone rang. I
prayed the ringing would stop. Hoped I was not being called in to
work. On my way to the phone, I cursed the person who had invented
the phone.
Moment
after answering the call. I was on my way. Once again. To Mackay.
“You are wanted in here,” I was told by the caller.
On
arriving at the hospital. Again. I went to the desk to tell them who
I wanted to see.
“So.
You are the missing mother.” I nodded. “Come with me.”
I
didn't know what to expect. I followed the nurse down the passage
way. Where I ended my journey I didn't expect to be. I had been
escorted to the delivery room. Leanne was holding back delivering
until I arrived. A washer was placed in my hand to bathe Leanne's
face. No one had asked me if I wanted to be in the room when my
grandchild was born. Everyone seemed to take this for granted I would
help. Not asking if I'd pass out on the floor.
Leanne
had become a little stressed. The father was having his hand
squeezed. Hard. He was being cursed. The doctor sat at the bottom of
the bed waiting for the delivery of the baby. Summing up the tension
in the room while doing my sponge job. I set out to cheer everyone
with strange stories for encouragement.
“I
don't want to do this,” came from Leanne, when another contraction
came. “It hurts too much.”
“Did
you hear the pigs complain while they delivered their litter? You
have to deliver one, baby. The first sow had nine pigs. The second
one had thirteen. They beat you on the baby stakes. So did the hens,
and ducks. Even the cat has beaten you. She has her kittens. There's
only you and Tammy left. You don't want to be the last one to deliver
this week. Do you?” The doctor, and nurse, smiled while I told my
stories. They looked at me like I was making up everything I said.
“Come. You can do this. Concentrate hard. The pain will soon be
over.” I soothed the fevered brow while she settled to finish the
job.
I
kept talking a lot of rubbish until my grandson was born. Leanne was
pleased when it was all over. She had her son to be called Mitchell.
I watched the proceedings. A bundle of new born baby was placed in my
arms. When I could escape from the hospital, I had to travel home to
collect Nicole from work.
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