Chapter 18
MARIA GETS A STROKE

Maria had invited her friend Emilia to Bianca’s wedding. It was a big family gathering and a lot of work for Maria. She received guests and made sure everything was perfect for her niece, Bianca.

Maria had been on her feet for a long time when her husband advised her to take a break and let some of the younger girls do it. She could not count on Emma because she was again heavily pregnant; the other two girls were also busy serving and making sure that the bride and groom had the best day of their lives.

Maria’s attention was drawn to the groom’s father, as the party drew to an end. She hadn’t had the chance to know him, so she went to his table and started talking to him. Then the conversation stopped suddenly as Maria collapsed to the floor.

‘Maria, what’s the matter? Maria!’ Ron called desperately. ‘Can you hear me? Please wake up, sweetheart!

‘What happened?’ he demanded, turning to those present.

‘She just passed out,’ said the groom’s father, frightened.

‘Maria, Maria, can you hear me? Please stay with me.’ Ron pulled everybody away and knelt beside his wife.

‘Please, Mr Makintosh, we here are nurses and Bianca’s colleagues. We will take care of your wife,’ one of the girls said as they tried to take over. ‘Help us by calling the ambulance, please calm down and get the ambulance in as quickly as you can.’

Everything stopped, and all attention was on Maria. They asked the remaining guests to stay calm and said that Maria would be all right. She was breathing but unconscious; the nurses put her in the recovery position while they waited for the ambulance.

The ambulance arrived in just fifteen minutes and took Maria away; Ron went with them. While in the ambulance, the crew asked Ron questions about Maria’s health and asked whether she was diabetic or had any heart conditions. Ron knew his wife very well and knew that she hadn’t got any condition. Her blood pressure was up when the crew checked.

They were soon at the hospital, where doctors took over from the ambulance crew. They did more tests and prescribed some injections for her. She woke after about an hour and thirty minutes looking tired and drained. The doctor said they would need to keep Maria overnight for more tests. She was not happy and said she would like to go home.

‘Not today, I am afraid. We need to do some more tests to be able to diagnose why you passed out,’ Dr Freeman said seriously.

‘You must listen to the doctor,’ Ron advised his wife. ‘You must rest for now, and I will see you in the morning.’ He kissed her passionately on her forehead and her lips and said goodnight.

The following day, Dr Freeman got his diagnosis after he got the blood test results.

‘You had a stroke; that was why you passed out,’ said the doctor.

‘Stroke?’ exclaimed both Ron and Maria.

‘That is very serious; there was no warning sign. You know, the FAST signs advertised on television, doctor,’ Maria said, incredulous.

‘The brain scan we did showed a clot in your brain. It is a small one but enough to cause a lot of harm. As you may know, a stroke occurs when the brain is not getting enough blood supply due to blood clot,’ Dr Freeman tried to explain. ‘As a result the brain gets less oxygen, and without oxygen, the brain cells die. What affects the supply of blood into the brain can be a blocked artery or bursting or a leaking blood vessel.

‘As one gets older, the blood vessels naturally become narrower for several reasons, some of which are high cholesterol and high blood pressure. You will need to check your diet. I will refer you to a dietician for advice. Your BMI is high, so the referral is important. Book an appointment.’

The couple were not very happy about Maria’s condition and sat quietly as the doctor continued.

‘You are only fifty-five. I will advise that you take good care of yourself. I will prescribe some tablets that will remove the clots in your brain and others that will stop it from occurring for you. Come back to see me in two weeks’ time.

‘What do you do for a living?’

‘I work in the legal service,’ Maria replied.

‘Well, that is a challenging job, I suppose,’ the doctor continued.

‘Yes, it is, especially working with children’s cases,’ Maria agreed.

‘You have to take time off and relax for a bit,’ he advised.

Maria was discharged a week after Bianca’s wedding reception, which had gone well despite Maria’s mishap. Ron took time off for a week to see his wife recover.

‘Don’t you think it’s time for us to retire and start our farm?’ Ron urged. ‘The family farm has been sold and money received. What are we waiting for? We must go now. Let’s put the house up for sale.’

Maria thought it was a good idea to retire. so she agreed that Ron should call the estate agents in. The house did not stay long on the market; the couple who first viewed it made an offer instantly, and within a month the transaction went through. Ron and Maria left London to live in their farmhouse and took over from the overseer they had employed to look after it while they sold their property in London.

It was a different kind of life in the countryside. It was peaceful. They decided to get a dog as security for the house and the farm. Lilian and Tammy were not happy with the move, even though they did not live with their parents. Tammy and her friend shared a flat in central London. Lilian still remained in Germany and paid regular visits to her parents.

Vigo was a close-knit community. Neighbours knew each other and looked out for each other. Maria had feared that they would live in isolation and be cut off from civilization, but that was not the case. Maria and Ron employed two more hands to help them on the farm. They were able to collect about ten gallons of milk every day. It was taken to be treated by the milk company every morning.

Maria enjoyed her new role and went every morning to supervise feeding and milking the cows and sheep. She tended the calves and gave them milk; ‘It is a good and lovely experience,’ she had told Emma.

At Derbyshire Emma and husband were preparing for the arrival of their second baby. Emma’s husband wanted to make the house baby friendly and was doing some facelifts to welcome the newborn baby to the family. It was an idea that came late, but he insisted that he would like to take a chance and make it special for Emma and the new baby, so Emma decided to visit Vigo with three-year-old Darren before the baby came and to allow her husband to fix things at home. He had planned to make the house ready for the birth. Her husband dropped her at the farm and said he would pick her up after three days.

Emma was fascinated by the farm. She asked endless questions: she wanted to know the lifespan of cows, she wanted to know at what age the cows could reproduce. The farmhand was patient and explained all that to her.

She would sit by the window while Darren played with the toys she’d brought along. The window overlooked the field, giving her the opportunity to watch the grazing cows and sheep. She sat the whole day watching them. Ron had barred her from going to the field, explaining that it was not safe for her.

Sitting in her usual position on the third day while she waited for her husband to arrive, she noticed something in the field, but she was not sure. Then, when she tried to get up for a better look, she felt something warm streaming down her legs. ‘Oh, my God! Mum, my water has broken!’ she called out.

‘What?’ Maria asked, not sure what she had heard.

Darren looked at his mother, very frightened.

‘My water has broken, and I am not even due! I have two more weeks to go,’ Emma said, scared that something bad was going to happen to her baby.

‘All right, stay calm, pet. Are you having contractions?’ Maria asked her stepdaughter.

‘No, Mum,’ she replied.

‘What’s the matter, Mum?’ asked Darren.

‘Your mum is having a baby,’ Maria told him and beckoned Ron to take him away into the garden.

‘Will my mum be all right?’ Darren asked Ron anxiously.

‘Of course she will. Let’s go,’ Ron reassured him and led him away.

‘Sit,’ Maria told Emma, ‘while I call the ambulance. You must also tell your husband to bring the baby’s suitcase along. It seems you are going to have the baby here!’

While they waited for the ambulance to arrive, the contractions kicked in suddenly. They were fiercely painful. Emma groaned in pain every time.

An hour later the ambulance still hadn’t arrived. The nurse then advised Maria over the phone to be ready to deliver the baby. She was frightened, as she had never encountered anything like that. She had two children, but someone else had delivered the baby; this was different. Delivering a baby was just too much, but she had no choice. She must brave up and get herself ready to take action.

‘What is your name?’ asked the nurse on the phone.

‘Maria; the one who’s pregnant is my daughter,’ Maria said.

‘Keep calm, Maria, and follow instructions; you will be fine,’ the nurse assured her.

‘Why is the ambulance not here? It’s been an hour now,’ Maria asked angrily.

‘The ambulance was on its way and got caught up in the traffic because there had been an accident on the A2. It’s still stuck there,’ the nurse said firmly, ‘so I am afraid you will have to do this.’

‘OK, what do you want me to do now?’ Maria asked anxiously.

‘Just listen and do what I ask you to do,’ the nurse told her.

‘OK,’ she answered obediently.

Maria followed instructions attentively, and all of a sudden she said, ‘The head is here, sweetheart, please push harder!’

‘I am tired, Mum, I can’t push,’ said Emma weakly.

‘OK, give yourself a rest, and when you get another contraction, push harder,’ Maria encouraged her.

When she pushed again, the baby was out. It was a big bouncing baby girl.

‘Well done. I can hear the baby cry,’ said the nurse. ‘Now get ready to cut the cord.’ Maria did as instructed, and the delivery was complete

‘Ron, we have a little girl,’ Maria called excitedly.

Darren ran to see his little sister. He took the baby’s tiny hands and said, ‘It’s my sister. I love my brother.’

All present were happy to hear what Darren said. ‘Yes,’ Maria answered, ‘you have a beautiful baby sister.’

Maria gazed at the newborn. Isn’t he adorable? She placed him beside Emma.

Ron looked at them and smiled. He kissed his daughter and then his grand daughter. ‘Congratulations, my princess, and to you little one, welcome.’

This was actually not Maria’s first time delivering a baby; she had once helped deliver a baby lamb. One of the sheep was heavily pregnant, with its belly dangling near the ground. It moved slowly due to its weight, and the vet had predicted that it was going to have more than one lamb. When the birth was due, Maria called the vet in as she thought she could not handle any complications during the birth. The vet arrived in no time and went straight to the animal. She asked Maria to come and watch so that if she was alone and it happened to any of the sheep, she would know what to do.

‘How long has the labour been going on,’ the vet asked calmly.

‘I heard her bleating all night, poor thing,’ Maria replied.

‘Let me check if she is well dilated and all right. If I find that she cannot have these little ones, I may have to take her to the vet surgery for the birth,’ the vet said. She knelt and checked between the sheep’s legs, and announced that the sheep was all right and that the babies would soon come. The poor animal was bleating and went and stood at a corner. Suddenly it became quiet, and then one lamb popped out then another and another, three beautiful little lambs!

As the two women stood watching and admiring them, the mother sheep began to lick them and cleaned them up. Then the lambs stood up, wobbling but upright, and started to walk after their mother.

Maria watched with interest. Why can’t humans also do this? she mused. It would save mothers a lot of trouble and make life easier. We have to go through the process of sitting and crawling and eventually walking. One cannot fully understand nature, as some people get things easy, while others have to struggle and work hard to achieve success.

But now she had done her grandchild’s delivery by herself and was the first to see the baby.

Luckily, the placenta came out with the baby, so Maria did not have that added chore. Just then, the ambulance arrived. Even though the baby was healthy and there seemed to be no problems, the ambulance crew insisted that the mother and daughter be taken to the hospital for check-up. They were sent to the maternity ward for exams and essential monitoring. Both were fine.

The feeling that she had delivered her grand daughter was awesome, an occasion she would cherish the rest of her life. She hugged her stepdaughter and kissed her forehead over and over when they returned home from the hospital. Maria advised that they could stay longer while the family bonded with the baby.

Ron was so grateful to have Maria. She had welcomed Emma as her own and had done everything a mother would do for her daughter. Emma even called her Mum, and that was beautiful. Emma stayed on the farm for another month before they finally left for their home at Derbyshire.