Runaway Sister by Ann Jennings Read Free Book Online Page A

Samantha truthfully, “but after that everything should be all right. However, you’re a young healthy girl, and I honestly don’t think you’ll need it.”
    â€œThere’s one coming—a pain!” exclaimed Diana, panic in her voice.
    â€œNow,” said Samantha in a low calm voice, “start taking in a deep breath slowly. Imagine you’re surfing along on top of a big, big wave, keep breathing in slowly till you reach the top.” She was pleased to see that Diana responded and was slowly breathing in, although she could tell she wasn’t relaxed enough, from the way her hand gripped hers.
    â€œTry to relax at the same time,” she said in the same calm voice. “You’re nearly there now, in a moment you’ll be sliding down the wave into calm water and you can slowly let your breath out.”
    Diana’s hand relaxed her grip on Samantha’s as she slowly let her breath out. “That wasn’t so bad,” she said in a surprised voice.
    Samantha smiled at her encouragingly. “That was a good strong contraction,” she said. “I’ll examine your cervix now—somehow I think your baby is impatient to get out into the world and you’re not going to take very long.”
    She was right. From then on everything proceeded smoothly. Diana was cooperative so long as Samantha was there. Once Samantha had to leave the room to go and answer the telephone, and when she was left alone with Nurse Wellow, her confidence evaporated and she started to panic again. When she returned Samantha resignedly accepted the fact that there was to be no coffee or lunch break for her until Diana had delivered. However, she thought this was a small price to pay if she could help the girl to deliver her baby without the need for analgesics of any kind. Samantha belonged to the school of thought that firmly believed that all analgesics were potentially dangerous to the fetus, and if it was possible to do without them, then so much the better.
    Just as Diana was entering the second stage and was beginning to bear down the door opened and Adam Shaw came in.
    â€œEverything all right?” he asked, standing just inside the doorway.
    â€œYes, thank you,” returned Samantha shortly. “Diana’s doing very well…”
    â€œGood,” he said, still waiting by the door.
    Irritably Samantha looked at him for a moment. “If I need you, I’ll send for you,” she said abruptly, then turned back to her task of helping Diana.
    Nurse Wellow looked surprised. She wasn’t used to nurses talking to senior consultants in that way—to her they were all godlike creatures! Samantha, however, didn’t give Adam Shaw another thought from that moment on, all her energy being concentrated on Diana. By midafternoon it had paid off. Diana delivered a fine eight-pound-two-ounce baby girl, complete with a shock of coal black hair.
    It seemed to Samantha that Diana changed from a girl to a woman before her very eyes as she tenderly held her baby.
    â€œShe’s so beautiful,” she whispered. “Look at her tiny fingers, her little nails are perfect, and her eyes are so blue. Oh, she’s lovely, I love her!” Impulsively she planted a gentle kiss on the baby’s wrinkled forehead.
    â€œI told you it would be worth it,” replied Samantha. “I’m sorry I had to be tough on you at the beginning.”
    â€œWere you?” said Diana. “I’d forgotten.”
    By the time Diana had been sorted out, the baby inspected by the pediatricians, who pronounced her one hundred percent, and mother and baby dispatched to the ward, it was late afternoon. After making sure there was nothing urgent going on Samantha made her way along to the canteen for a well-earned break. It was way past lunch, so she had to content herself with a cup of tea and a sticky bun, which actually tasted better than it looked.
    She was halfway