Tornado

               Tornado

Suzanne Marsh

The wind began to pick up, and the sky became an odd color of green. Travis and Trent Matthews knew exactly what that green color sky meant, they had to seek shelter quickly, a tornado was lurking close. Travis watched as the rain came down hard, then came baseball-sized hail. The wind rocked the F150 Ford all over the road. This tornado was massive, they could see the funnel cloud for over three miles. They decided to try to outrun it, when suddenly Trent looked in the review mirror to see a large black funnel cloud, it was almost on top of them. Travis spotted an old barn, hopefully with a large bottom floor, if they could get that far, they could stay in the barn until the storm blew over. Travis rolled to a stop as Trent jumped out of the truck, pulling open the barn door. Travis pulled the F150 Ford into the barn; working together, they closed the doors. They went down to the ground floor, hoping to survive this storm.

Travis’ cell phone rang, his father wanted to be sure the boys were safe:

“Dad, we are in an old barn on the bottom floor, we are safe.”

“Good, stay there until the thing blows over. See you two when you get home.”

Trent turned to Travis:

“Was Dad upset?” Travis in true big brother fashion smiled:

“No, he is just happy we are safe.”

The wind continued to howl, and the rafters came loose as the storm continued. They were going to have to stay here in the barn until the hail and rain halted.

Trent a licensed veterinarian heard the soft wicker of a mare, then he heard a loud whinny. He knew the mare was foaling and she was in distress. The wind began to calm down:

“Travis, there is a mare here in the barn; that sounds like she is in distress. I have to find her, I

can help her. Wanna come along with me? I could use an extra pair of hands.” Travis who

was several years Trent’s junior was also a physician:

“Yeah, let's see we can find her, maybe there are stalls on the second floor.” They began to move slowly toward the wooden stairs. Trent went toward the sound of the mare, with Travis behind him. They found a small Morgan mare lying on her side in the stall. Trent noted the foal was breech, he could see one small hoof. Breech birth is not common in horses but it happens. He put his arm into the mare, causing Travis to gape in awe. He turned to Travis:

“What have we got in the sharp truck? Do you still carry that jackknife?” Trent nodded yes. “We need to sterilize the knife, we are going to have to do a “C” section, we have to

get the foal out NOW.” Trent had delivered a few “C” sections but this was different, the life of the foal and the mare depended on keeping a cool head, so they were going to have to improvise with what they could find. Both men wondered how the mare had gotten in the barn, the stall was open when they heard a voice several stalls over

“My name is Tom Hogg, my wife Tammy is in labor, the baby...there is something wrong.” Trent looked up at Tom:

“Tom, Tom Hogg, I’m Trent I am an OB/GYN show me where your wife is. Glad you made

it before the storm got any worse.” Tom wasn’t sure what to say but managed:

“Yeah, us too. The door is blocked, I tried shoving it open but it won’t budge.” Tammy sat in the small Nissan truck, doubled over in pain. She knew something was wrong, the baby should have been born during the storm, but the pains were infrequent then; now they were harder than they had been for their other two children. She was scared but attempted to hold on until they got out of the barn.

Trent knocked on the window of the Nissan, scaring the woman even more. Tom Hogg opened the door:

“Honey, this man is an OB/GYN he is going to help you.” The woman simply groaned in agony, attempting to push the baby out. Trent had to examine her before he could do anything else., the question was where. The seat was narrow in the Nissan it did not allow any room to move around. This could be a problem. Trent saw clean hay in one stall, they would have to move her but there was no choice. Between her husband Tom, Trent, and Travis they laid her down on the hay. Trent quickly examined her what he found was a prolapsed umbilical cord. There was no time to spare, he remembered reading a newspaper on the way home, that was before they found themselves in this barn, and a large tornado wreaking havoc.

There was no time to worry about what was outside the barn, Trent told Travis to get the newspaper and blanket in the F150. He then began to examine the woman, he turned to her husband:

“How long has she been like this? I am going to have to do a pelvic exam, once I do that then I will have a better idea of what is wrong. Trent proceeded to do the exam, and what he found disturbed him greatly. He could feel the umbilical cord at the entrance to the birth canal, which meant the umbilical cord was prolapsed. He would have to move quickly the fetus was already in distress as was the mother. He motioned to Travis:

“Travis, I have to move the umbilical cord, then I am going to deliver this little person. Tom,

help your wife into a sitting position. Trent inserted his hand gently while moving the umbilical cord. The woman screamed as Travis attempted to deliver the child. The compression on the umbilical cord was becoming a problem; it was cutting off the air supply from the baby to the mother. Trent worked quickly, he realized it was going to be a “C” section and it had to be done immediately to save the woman and the baby. He had Travis sterilize his jackknife once again, he made an incision, quickly removing the baby, who gave out a howl at being disturbed.

Tom Hogg and his wife had a beautiful little girl, and their family was complete. Travis and Trent returned home after the tornado adventure, pleased with themselves.