Ninety Degrees Out

Anya Amudson heard horses galloping up to the med tent and glanced through the window to see three horses slowing to a stop. Who was the woman? Right Deborah. She remembered what her son had said. Pregnant and living rough in a high mountain valley. Not a bad way to go, but with a baby on the way, not good either. She pushed back from her desk and walked out to meet the riders.

“Hi, I’m Deborah.” The woman was about six inches shorter than her. Her tone was bright and confident.

Anya extended her hand, and Deborah clasped it firmly. “I’m not the human doctor here. He’s up the hill collecting a family of eight who made here from way down in Homer. And that’s another story.”

“Meet Dr. Anya Amudson. She a veterinarian.” Spence grabbed the reins for all the horses. “Ma’am, I’m going to take our mounts to the barn and cool them down. They need a good rub down and some oats. Brent will make sure you get to the lodge and we’ll give you a room there.”

“Thanks for everything guys,” Deborah waved at Spence before he turned away.

“You can go with him Brent, I’ll take care of her, and you can give Spence a hand with the horses,” Anya said. “Come inside, woman. It’s hot out here and I’ve got cold water and I can do the basics. Dr. Mike has been teaching me about human physiology.”

Deborah giggled, and Anya raised an eyebrow.

“I think vets are smarter than human doctors in any case. And when it comes right down to it, we’re just another mammal.” Deborah followed Anya inside. “Oh God, you’ve got fans running in here. I think I’m in heaven.”

“We’ve got a good power supply here. A couple of wind turbines and solar panels everywhere make for enough to keep us going. Here.” Anya pulled open the fridge door where they stored their perishable medication and grabbed two bottles of water. She handed one to her visitor.

“Man, you’d think this was wine. Cold water isn’t easy to come by up on the mountain. The stream by our place is pretty warm these days.” Deborah chugged half the bottle down.

“Let’s get some basic vitals on you, and some measurements. Like weight, height, and I’ll do the first exam of baby here,”

Anya said as she pulled the blood pressure machine over. “I’ll use the old fashioned method with a stethoscope and a cuff if we need too.”

“How does everything look?” Deborah asked.

“You blood pressure is amazing. Must be because of the active lifestyle. 110/70 is great. No chance of some of the blood pressure complications with you. Heart rate is good, and your oxygen levels are perfect. I’ll do your sugars next. When did you eat last?”

“Lunch about three hours ago.” Deborah held up a finger for Anya.

After touching the bead of blood that popped ager using a lancet, Anya dabbed it the test strip and then waited for a few seconds for the beep. “You’re great here too. A nice healthy result.”

“I figured as much. None of my sisters have had problems and Mom never did either. I’ve got eight siblings. Besides, other than a couple of weeks when I was a bit queasy, I’ve been fine that way too,” Deborah told her.

“Get up there on the table. I’ll do a palpation exam on your stomach. I’ll leave the internal for Dr. Mike. That’s where I’m in over my head. From the outside, I can pretty much tell what we’re looking at. Babies are babies.”

Deborah nodded and hitched herself up onto the padded raised surface. “It’s been forever since I’ve seen a doctor of any sort. I figure at least fifteen years.”

“You sound like a lot of the people at the ranch and in our community. Unless they’re injured, we probably won’t see them.”

Anya began to press Deborah’s baby bump with firm pressure. It wasn’t a minute before she had an answering kick. A smile blossomed across her patient’s face and her own mouth responded too.

“The peanut isn’t so small anymore. They’re pretty active. I refuse to pick a gender, and Earl wants the surprise. We’ve been making baby clothes but I’m wondering, what do I do about diapers?”

“That’s a good question. Let me see what we can do.” Anya grabbed a sheet of paper and started making notes. Pulling a file drawer open to the right of her knees, pulled out a new file folder and aske, “What’s your last name Debora?”

“Goldstein. Before you ask, I’m Jewish, but out here we don’t observe much. No Rabbi or synagogue.”

“Makes no difference around here. We value hard work, kindness, and survival. We take of each other and our safety,” Anya explained. “We have friends in the coast guard and the last troopers in Anchorage are still in contact with us. You might be surprised what we can pull off.”

“Earl’s, well he’s just a really decent guy. And he’s over the moon about the baby.”

“Let’s see if we can get things arranged so you’ll have some help with the birth and getting other things ready. We’ll get Dr. Mike to take a look at your breasts, too.”

“Breasts?” Deborah put a defensive hand across her chest.

“To make sure you don’t have problems with your nipples so you can nurse. By the way, nothing much surprises him. He’s a retired surgeon from Florida.” Anya reassured her. “We’re done here. Baby Goldstein is active and strong. They’re head is to your right, feet to the left at the moment.”

“I had my last period back in October, when we had the first snow that stuck,” Deborah said as she swung her legs down to the floor to stand up.

“It’s the middle of March now. How do you track the days up there?” She was curious. Many of the mountain people had no idea what month they were in. The seasons and weather guided their lives.

“Oh, we get a calendar when we go down for supplies before winter really settles in. Usually sometime in November. The bank has them. We have a little nest egg there from our gold sluicing and the crystals we’ve found. Big money in those if you happen to find big ones. There are some that are gem quality. So, I mark my periods on it. Let me think a minute.”

Anya put her notes in the file and put it in the drawer with all the others.

“October 15th,”

“Then your due date isn’t for a few more months. Anytime after the end of June.” Anya did the math in her head.

“That’s what I figured.”

“Come on. I expect Dr. Mike and the men that went up the hill will bring the family into the dining hall at the lodge first. We might as well go over there and get you settled too.” Anya opened the exam room door.

“I’m really glad you found us.” Deborah went out first.