Considering the calm, beauty and rhythm of these births, Ava wasn’t the only one who wished these babies could be born on the country of each woman and her family. As long as everything went smoothly, of course. Which it didn’t always do. Having the backup of medical science came in handy way too often, and Ava couldn’t see an alternative to coming into a centre of high acuity for these remote women. Every settlement needed backup for emergencies, which just wasn’t possible.

With amusement, she realised that now when she thought of medical backup, she thought of Zac. Her sexy city doc. In a perfect world, she and Zac could run a flying squad for outreach maternity, like the obstetric heroes had in the 1930s for home births in the United Kingdom. Except in Australia, distances meant they really would have to fly in the air and swoop down on isolated settlements. It was a nice dream though. A pipe dream. And as things stood at this time, it simply wasn’t going to happen.

Which led to something else that might not happen. Despite the fact that she’d spent the last few days with Zac, today her Alice Springs midwifery shifts ended and she would travel to her last placement before she took holidays. Last night, for the first time since they’d hooked up, Zac had mentioned he could fly to Uluru on the weekend to see her at the Yulara clinic. The question was, would he actually arrive there so she could introduce him to her favourite place in the world? Or would something crop up to prevent it?

Maybe she wasn’t the only one who felt they had something momentous happening between them. Was she dreaming that he looked at her with a special light in his eyes whenever their paths crossed at work?

Another call bell rang and she slipped into Kareena’s room where her baby had begun to howl with distress. Kareena’s pale face looked drawn with weariness, even in the dim light, as she rocked her new son without any reduction in noise. Her mum snored loudly on the corner sofa. Kareena sniffed when she saw Ava, and a tear trickled down her cheek. ‘I’m no good at this,’ she whispered.

‘You’re perfect. Just tired. And your baby doesn’t know the rules yet.’ Ava held out her hands and Kareena passed the baby over with relief. ‘You’re exhausted. How about I take him for half an hour? I’ll rock him while you have a power nap. You’ll be surprised how little time you need to feel better.’

‘Thanks, Ava. That would be good.’

Ava helped her to the toilet and back, checked Kareena’s tummy when she returned to bed to see that her uterus was still firm, and then carried the newborn down to the nursery to change his nappy and discuss reasonable sleep patterns with him.