The Greek Doctor's New-Year Baby

Unless the abruption was much, much worse than they suspected. She knew Theo would make sure the monitoring was good enough that DIC wouldn’t take them by surprise, but things could happen so fast in an operating theatre…

She damped the fears down. They weren’t going to lose the mum or the baby. She believed in Theo absolutely.

After an urgent haematological consultation, Theo gave fibrinogen and fresh frozen plasma to help the blood clot at the moment of delivery, performed the operation and handed the baby over to Erin, the neonatal specialist, who was ready and waiting. ‘It’s a girl,’ he said.

‘Do you think…?’ Madison asked in a whisper.

‘We were in time? I hope so. But I’ll be happier when I hear that first cry,’ Theo said.

As if on cue, there was a thin little wail, and Madison smiled. ‘There you go. Just waiting for your order.’

‘Hmm. We’re not out of the woods yet,’ Theo warned softly. He turned to the haematologist. ‘Bill, how’s it looking?’

‘Urine output’s OK, just. Blood’s clotting in seven minutes so we’re on the border of OK. How’s the uterus looking?’

‘Atonic. We’re going to have to help her contract.’

‘Oxytocin,’ the anaesthetist said. ‘I’ll give it now. Has the bleeding stopped?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good. No heparin,’ Bill said. ‘An ampoule of prostaglandin would be good now. Intravenously.’

‘On it,’ Theo said. ‘And I’ll compress the uterus manually. Maddie, can you help with this?’

‘On it,’ Madison said.

‘Blood pressure?’ Theo asked.

‘Stable. You can close. We’ll tell you if anything changes,’ the anaesthetist said.

Theo started the long task of stitching up the incision. ‘How’s the baby doing?’ he asked Erin as he worked.

‘The Apgar score’s as good as expected. She’s holding her own. We’ll transfer her to SCBU.’ She smiled. ‘As soon as the mum’s up to it, she can come in and see her baby. But can you prepare her for lots of noise, monitoring and tubes, and tell her it isn’t anywhere near as scary as it looks?’

‘Will do,’ Madison said.

There was a tense moment when Mrs Staveley’s blood pressure started to drop, but after another transfusion Bill and the anaesthetist pronounced her stable.

‘Are you all right?’ Theo asked Madison as they cleaned up afterwards.

‘Sure. You did a fantastic job, Theo.’

‘The team did a fantastic job,’ he corrected. ‘Including you. But you’re looking shattered. You’ve had enough. Go home—and that’s a work order, so you have to do what I say,’ he added.

‘How about a compromise? I’ll go when Mrs Staveley comes round.’

‘As long as you sit down right now.’

‘Bossy,’ she grumbled, but she knew he was right. The small of her back was beginning to ache slightly.

When Mrs Staveley had come round from the anaesthetic, Theo sat next to her and held her hand. ‘Mrs Staveley, I’m delighted to tell you that you have a beautiful little girl. She’s a good weight for her age, and Erin—she’s the consultant in the special care baby unit—says she’s holding her own.’

‘Can I see her?’

‘Not just yet,’ Theo said. ‘Not because there’s a problem with her, but because we’ve had a few worries about you—you needed a couple of transfusions, and you need to rest under close observation for a while.’

‘I want to see my baby.’ A tear trickled down her cheek. ‘I…I’m sorry, I’m being pathetic.’

‘Don’t apologise. You’ve been through the mill,’ Theo said. ‘If it’ll help, I’ll go and see your baby myself and take a Polaroid, so you can see for yourself. But I do have some good news. Your husband’s outside.’ He smiled gently. ‘And he’s pretty desperate to see you. I’ll go and fetch him, and then I’ll go and check on the baby for you and report back.’

‘My baby’s really going to be all right?’ Mrs Staveley asked Madison.

‘She’s in the best hands right now. And Erin says you can see your little girl any time you like—so as soon as Theo’s happy to let you be moved, we can get a wheelchair and take you to see her.’ She paused. ‘They’ll be giving her oxygen to help her breathe, and because they keep a close eye on all the babies in the unit you’ll see a lot of wires and tubes and monitors—it looks a lot scarier than it really is,’ Madison reassured her.