with each word that identified who he was , her head cleared a little more and images and sounds flashed by in memory , jumbled and distorted-the pain , the healer 's encouraging voice , a male voice promising it would n't hurt much longer , the thin cry of a baby , the man lowering her to the pillows and moving toward the child a woman lifted from between her legs , and her sudden attack to keep him , and everyone else , away from her baby .