Labor

Joy grows impatient with the progress of her labor. While Lovie watches over Joy like a mother hen, Kenny invites the narrator to gather eggs from his chickens. Lovie shares her view of the midwife's role at a home birth and explains why Joy's labor is taking some time. As in the previous chapter, this chapter includes first-person accounts by Lovie: in this case, reflections on how labor tends to proceed for a woman who has several small children, and how Lovie supports a woman though labor. Joy tries to explain to the narrator what a contraction feels like. Joy confides her fear that the baby could be breech, and Lovie asks her if she’s ever had an episiotomy.