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Crazy Without Her
- University Press of Mississippi
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Grady had not won in several years. Once they had delivered so many babies a month that timing onejust after midnight, and making the headlines for having the first newborn of the new year, was not a difficult challenge. The Grady babies just didn't stop. Grady had filled the rooms and lined the halls—and sometimes the staff break room—with bulgingbellied , laboring women. Now, they delivered babies in spanking-new rooms with only one patient apiece, rooms that were designed for two patients in anticipation of the multitudes that did not show. Indigent patients were accepted, even enticed, elsewhere because of higher Medicaid obstetrics payments. It was a fight. "Two are possibilities," said Karen Olsen, the third-year, looking at her board. "Payne will probably deliver before midnight, Kennedy maybe." On the television in the corner, a newsman reported on the abortion clinic shootings in Boston. "Turn that up," Pete Myers, the second-year, said. "I'm going to do more abortions because of that," he said, glaring at the TV. At the bottom of the board someone had written the number of days left in residency for each year. Fourth: 181. Third: 546. Second: 911. First: 1,275. The fetus doll was curled up nicely inside the model pelvis, except it was butt first—a definite C-section. The fourth-year, Mary Lowry, entered the room and poured herself some coffee in a urine specimen cup. "Is that a clean-catch?" Myers asked. She chuckled, said, "No protein in it," and sipped away. Cracy Without Her 280 Crazy Without Her Myers passed around a box of Whopper malted milk balls and Chex party mix. Olsen returned from checking on Payne, and updated her from 5 to 7 centimeters on the board under "Cervix." A clerk wrote NP, for new patient, on the lines for rooms 11 and 12. The departing thirdyear showed off the sparklers he was eager to light at midnight, then left. Jodi Reeve came in, wearing a white turtleneck under her scrub shirt, strode right up to Olsen, and said, "We're"—meaning the midwives— "gonna have the first baby of the new year." "No, weare." Reeve pointed to the line for room 6. "She might be the one." "Do they get a tax deal?" Olsen asked. "She's fifteen. I doubt she itemizes her tax return. And you can't cut someone to win." "I won't even vacuum," Olsen said. "I'm going to win fair and square." She turned to Myers. "This is not a friendly rivalry,so don't go near her." "These kids need the gifts, so don't let Northside win." Reeve said Nortbside with a sliding sneer. They all compared times on their watches and synchronized them. "I just want my picture with the baby," Olsen said. She looked at the newspaper she had brought with her. "Can you believe someone else was killed at an abortion clinic?" "Doesn't that piss you off?" Reeve said. "This is crazy," Olsen replied. "Pro-life, right." "The one in 4 might do it," Myers said. "Or 2. She's got a small baby." In room 6, Reeve said, "Hi, I'mJodi. I'llbe with you to the bitter end. We were saying yours might be the first baby of the new year. You get more stuff if you're first. It doesn't mean we're going to do anything different, OK?" She looked at the strip. "You're contracting great." She went to the nurse's station, sat next to the OB tech, and wrote on the chart. She turned to the tech and said, "Olsen said she's going to beat me fair and square. I trust her." "What do they get?" "Something. Savings bonds, diapers. I don't know." Myers walked by, headed to 4. "Don't do any cheating," Reeve warned. [34.226.141.207] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 09:12 GMT) "She'll be out of contention if she gets an epidural," he said. "It'll slow her down." In 6, an epidural providing calm, Clarice Vance, Reeve's patient, lay on the bed, accompanied by her mother, Rolanda, and sixteen-year-old Tyrone , the father of her child and one year her senior. Rolanda sat in a chair at the foot of Clarice's bed, presiding over the room. She had a round, freckled face. Tyrone sat next to Clarice, joking and teasing her. "We've been going to Grady all our...