The Midwife's Child

He paused with his hand on the door and lifted an eyebrow. ‘About my patient?’

Brooke nodded. ‘She’s had no antenatal care at all. She hates hospitals and doctors and won’t go anywhere near them.’

‘Oh, great!’ Jed rolled his eyes and sighed. ‘This is going to be fun, then. So why is she here?’

‘Her boyfriend bullied her into it. They just turned up on the labour ward, demanding treatment for her headache and stomach ache.’ Brooke bit her lip.

‘Her blood pressure’s up in the sky—one-seventy over one-ten—and she’s got severe epigastric pain, which she thinks is indigestion, but I think—’

‘It’s pre-eclampsia,’ Jed finished, pulling a face. ‘OK. Thanks for the warning. I’ll treat her with kid gloves. Do we know why she hates hospitals?’

‘No.’ Brooke gave him a wry smile and shook her head. ‘She hates me too much to tell me.’

‘Right.’ Jed returned the smile, their differences temporarily forgotten. ‘Let’s take the bull by the horns, then.’

The woman was openly hostile, refusing to co-operate or communicate in any way. It was left to her boyfriend to give them the information they needed.

Her name was Fiona and at thirty-three years old this was her second pregnancy.

‘Have you been seen by a doctor at all in your pregnancy?’ Jed’s voice was calm and steady but Fiona glared at him.

‘No, I haven’t. I don’t want to be messed with. I just want a natural birth and I knew that if I saw a doctor they’d manage to mess it up in some way. Just like you’re about to!’

Jed was silent for a moment. ‘How would we mess it up, Fiona?’

‘I know what you doctors are like!’ Her voice rose hysterically and her hand shook as she tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear. ‘You can’t leave things alone. You have to meddle.’

‘We don’t meddle,’ Jed said carefully, ‘but sometimes it’s necessary to intervene for the good of the baby.’

The pregnant woman swore crudely but Jed didn’t react, watching her carefully through narrowed eyes.

‘This unit has one of the lowest Caesarean section and forceps rates in the country,’ he told her quietly, ‘so I can reassure you that we never meddle.’

Fiona glowered at them both. ‘You all meddle, given the chance.’

‘What are you scared of, Fiona?’ He sat down on the edge of the bed, his eyes gentle and sympathetic and his whole manner calm and controlled. ‘If you tell me what you’re scared of, I can probably help.’

‘How?’ Fiona’s eyes were tormented. ‘Can you bring her back?’

‘Bring who back?’ Jed’s eyes never left her face. ‘Bring who back?’

Fiona burst into tears and her boyfriend slipped an arm round her shoulders and glared at Jed.

‘Now look what you’ve done. You should be keeping her calm, not winding her up like this!’

‘I think it would be better for everyone if you told me exactly what you’re afraid of,’ Jed said gently, his voice very calm and patient. ‘I promise not to do anything to you without your consent, but unless you’re straight with me it’s impossible for me to reassure you. So can you tell me what happened?’

‘My baby died! That’s what happened!!’ Fiona started to sob hysterically and Brooke felt her heart twist.

‘Oh, you poor thing!’ She sat down on the bed opposite Jed and tried to take the girl’s hand, but it was immediately snatched away.

‘She was dead when she was born, and it was the doctors’ fault.’ Fiona was still sobbing. ‘When I got pregnant again I swore I wouldn’t go near another hospital and then this happened and he made me come.’

She started to thump her partner who looked totally traumatised.

‘Was I wrong to bring her?’ He looked at them helplessly and Brooke gave him a sympathetic glance.

‘You were absolutely right.’