The Doctor's Runaway Bride

ggled into the unflattering hospital gown. ‘How?’

‘The fluid around the baby is held in place by a membrane and it means that the baby is totally enclosed in a little bag,’ Tia explained carefully. ‘If your membranes rupture, the baby is theoretically exposed to germs from the outside world. The most important aspect of looking after you is to check that you don’t develop an infection.’

She checked the notes and saw that Chloe was thirty-five weeks pregnant, but before she could examine her Luca arrived with Dr Ford and three students in tow.

‘Mrs Hunter, I’m Dr Zattoni.’ Luca shook Chloe’s hand and gave her a warm smile. ‘Could you tell me what happened?’

Chloe looked at him anxiously and repeated her story.

‘And you have no pain? Nothing that makes you think you could be in labour?’

Chloe shook her head. ‘Will you have to deliver the baby?’

‘Not necessarily. A pregnancy can sometimes continue for several weeks without problems. Our concern is to ensure that an infection does not develop.’

Chloe nodded. ‘Yes, that’s what Tia told me.’

Luca’s eyes flickered to Tia and she flushed under his warm gaze.

‘All the signs are that the baby is well at the moment. We will do some tests right away and then make some decisions on the best way to manage things.’

Chloe looked at him anxiously. ‘What sort of tests? Will I have to stay in over Christmas?’

Luca was noncommittal. ‘Possibly. I need to examine you internally to take a sterile sample of the liquor—that is the fluid that surrounds the baby,’ he explained. ‘That will give us an idea of lung maturity—how well your baby will be able to cope if it is born early. Then I want you to have another scan, just to check that everything is still looking good with the baby.’ He turned to Tia. ‘What’s her temperature?’

Tia nodded and gestured to the chart. ‘It’s normal. Thirty-six point eight. We’ll check it four-hourly.’

‘Good.’ Luca gave a brief nod and then turned to Dr Ford and gave her some instructions, breaking off as his bleeper sounded.

He lifted it out of his pocket and grimaced. ‘Labour ward. I’d better go.’ He glanced at Chloe with a smile. ‘Tia will arrange for you to have a scan and I will be back to examine you shortly.’

But he didn’t reappear. Tia was about to bleep him when Phil Warren, one of the registrars from the other obstetric team, arrived on the ward to examine Chloe.

‘Sorry about the delay. It’s a nightmare on the labour ward,’ Phil muttered in an undertone as he scrubbed and prepared to take the specimen. ‘A woman has ruptured her uterus. Luca’s trapped in Theatre.’

‘What?’ Tia stared at him in horror and disbelief. Rupture of the uterus was extremely uncommon in the UK. ‘Was it a previous Caesarean section scar?’

Phil nodded. ‘She’d already been admitted in labour but the doctor didn’t spot it. It was Luca who suspected it—he’s seen it before apparently. Anyway, he whipped her into Theatre just in time. She had a massive haemorrhage and it was touch and go with the baby.’

Tia stared at him in horror. ‘What did Luca do?’

‘Luca?’ Phil gave a dry laugh. ‘You know him. Mr Cool. He got the baby out so fast we didn’t see his fingers move. Funny, really. Every other surgeon I know would have been at least a little tense in that situation but not Luca. He doesn’t know the meaning of the word panic. The only slightly stressful moment was when he lapsed into Italian and no one had a clue what he was talking about.’

‘And is the mother all right?’

Phil nodded. ‘I think so. When I left, Luca had stopped the bleeding, but it looked as though he might have to do a hysterectomy.’

‘Poor woman,’ Tia said softly.

‘Yes, but she’s lucky that it was Luca,’ Phil said. ‘That was a tricky piece of surgery and he undoubtedly saved two lives. I don’t think I could have done what he did. He’s a bit of a hero on the labour ward today!’

Tia felt a glow of pride. The more she saw of him, the more she realised what a skilled obstetrician Luca was.

Later that afternoon she was moved to labour ward to help out and discovered that Sally Clarke, the woman with the breech presentation, had been admitted earlier in the day.

‘Luca is still promising to deliver her vaginally,’ Sharon muttered as she went through the notes with Tia. ‘If it was anyone but him I’d be protesting madly, but he’s adamant and he does seem to know what he’s doing. Can you go and assist? If things go wrong we’ll need some extra bodies and, anyway, you know her, don’t you? She was asking for you earlier.’

Tia hurried to the labour room and pushed open the door.