State of Wonder - Ann Patchett [132]
Dr. Swenson shook her head. “You don’t realize how much blood there is when you have all those other people waiting there to sop it up for you. This is a perfectly reasonable amount. You wait and see, she’ll be fine. They’ll both be fine.”
The nurse came over and covered the woman with another blanket. “It would be good if we could just move her to someplace that was dry,” Marina said. “I can’t leave her lying in all of that.”
“There are certain things we cannot expect the Lakashi to do,” Dr. Swenson said. “They cannot perform cesarean sections. That is a matter of training and equipment. They do know that a sick woman should not be left to lie on a sodden blanket, and they know perfectly well how to clean up. You will come back tonight and check on your patients, Dr. Singh, and come back again to check on them tomorrow. You’ll see how well they manage without you.”
The woman who had been nursing a baby when they arrived had handed that one off and was now nursing the new one while his mother slept on the floor. The father came to Marina, who was putting the contents of the used surgical kit back in her bag, and very lightly slapped her back and arms with his open hands. Then the others came over, all except the woman nursing and the woman sleeping, and did the same. The two children hit her legs and the old man reached to slap her ears. Marina in turn pounded the back of her nurse who had never flinched or turned her head during the surgery and in return the woman gently slapped Marina’s face with the back of her hand.
“Come now,” Dr. Swenson said. “Once you get started with this it can go on for hours. You’ll come home with more bruises than Easter.”
It took some navigation to get Dr. Swenson down the ladder but there were so many Lakashi waiting for her at the bottom with their arms stretched up that they would have simply caught her had she fallen and borne her aloft all the way back to the lab. She gave herself a few minutes to catch her breath and while they waited a crowd assembled. Clearly the news of their success had spread. The natives made a thick ring around Marina and Dr. Swenson, chattering and clapping their hands together once Dr. Swenson made it clear they were to keep their hands to themselves.
“Everyone is admiring you,” Dr. Swenson told Marina in a raised voice.
Marina laughed. There was a woman behind her holding on to her braid, staking out the territory as her own. “You’re just projecting. You have no idea what they’re saying.”
“I know their happiness. I may not know the details of every sentence but believe me, there are many ways to listen and I’ve been listening to these people for a long time.” The crowd was moving forward and the two doctors moved with them. “They think you will replace me,” Dr. Swenson said to her, “the way I replaced Dr. Rapp. Benoit told them you were the one who killed the snake to save Easter and that you brought the snake back for them. Now they’ve seen you cut out a child and keep the mother alive. That’s a heady business around here.”
“They didn’t see that,” Marina said.
“They most certainly did,” Dr. Swenson said, and lifted up her hand towards the sky. “They were in the trees. The entire surgical theater was full.”
Marina looked around at the faces of all the beaming Lakashi. What would have happened if the woman hadn’t lived? If the child were dead? “I didn’t look up,” she said.
“Just as well, too much pressure. You did a fine job. I could tell you were a student of mine. You made a classic T-incision. You kept the opening in the uterus small. You have very steady hands, Dr. Singh. You are exactly the person I want when I deliver.”
What a thought, delivering the child of the person who taught her to deliver children. “I won’t be here when you deliver,” Marina said, and took comfort in the knowledge. “How far along are you?”
“Just over twenty-six weeks.”
“No, no,” she said. “That’s not even possible. Who were you planning on delivering the baby?”
“The midwife. I’ll be honest, I had envisioned an experience as close to the Lakashi