The Greek Doctor's New-Year Baby

Eleni’s eyes filled with tears. ‘S’agapo, yios mou. I love you, too, my son.’

Madison, seeing the expressions on their faces, knew that the final brick wall was down. Everything was going to be fine.

Three weeks later, Madison was pottering around the house. She’d woken in the night with a slight stomachache, but had simply turned over and gone back to sleep, thinking she’d eaten something that had disagreed with her slightly.

But in the middle of the afternoon it suddenly hit her. She’d been having stomachache on and off all day. A stomachache that wasn’t a stomachache: she was having contractions.

‘I can’t be,’ she said out loud. ‘It’s too early.’ Three weeks too early.

Maybe it was Braxton-Hicks’, the ‘practice’ contractions that fooled many a first-time mum-to-be into calling the midwife.

But she knew it had been going on too long.

She thought about ringing Theo—but, then again, what was the point in making him come home from work, only to go straight back to the ward? Instead, she called a taxi and carried her own bag up to the ward.

‘Maddie! Lovely to see you.’ Iris greeted her with a hug. ‘Are you meeting Theo from work? He’s in clinic at the moment.’

‘I know.’ And the contractions were still reasonably far apart. It was way too early to book herself in. ‘Mind if I wait in his office?’ she asked.

‘Sure. Do you want one of us to get you a drink?’

Maddie laughed. ‘I’m eight and a bit months pregnant, not ill. But thanks for the offer.’

She amused herself catching up with journals until Theo walked through the door.

‘Hello—I didn’t expect to see you here.’ He greeted her with a kiss. ‘Bored at home, are you?’

‘Something like that,’ Madison said.

Then he caught sight of her hospital bag. ‘Is that what I think it is?’ At her nod, he raked a hand through his hair. ‘You impossible woman—why didn’t you call me?’

‘There was no point when you’re here anyway—it was quicker for me to come here than to wait for you to get all the way home and bring me all the way back here,’ she explained.

‘When did you start having contractions?’

‘In the middle of the night. Except I thought it was indigestion.’

‘And you an obstetrician. Tut-tut.’ He was clearly trying to be smiley and jokey, but Madison caught a glimpse of fear in his eyes.

She needed to distract him.

She glanced up at the clock. ‘The last one was ten minutes ago and it’s just starting again now. So you might want to come and book me in.’

He went pale. ‘Oh, lord. I think I’ve just forgotten everything I know about babies.’

She squeezed his hand. ‘You’re not delivering this baby, Theo. The midwifery team is.’

‘The midwifery team is what?’ Iris asked from the doorway.

‘Um, attending to me. Today.’

‘I thought you were having a February baby?’

‘This one has a mind of her own. She’s decided that she wants to be a new year baby.’

‘As of now,’ Theo said, ‘I’m unavailable. Iris, I’ll go and get a wheelchair—’

‘You’ll do nothing of the kind,’ Madison interrupted. ‘You know as well as I do that it’s good for women in labour to walk about and let gravity do its stuff.’

‘Maddie, I can’t even think straight,’ he admitted.

Iris came over and patted his shoulder. ‘It’s nice to see that when it comes to his own baby, our senior consultant is just like any other anxious dad-to-be. Come on. Let’s get you booked in.’

‘Theo, it’s going to be all right,’ Madison said softly when Iris had left Theo’s office. ‘I know there’s a part of you that’s worrying, but it’s going to be just fine.’

Eight hours later, Theo was cradling his daughter in his arms. ‘I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful in my entire life. With the exception perhaps of her mother.’

Madison laughed. ‘I’m sweaty and smelly and I’m desperate for a hair-wash.’

‘You’re still beautiful, agapi mou,’ he told her sincerely. ‘And so is our baby.’

He’d driven Madison crazy over the last few months, refusing to discuss names and saying that they’d know her name when they saw her. ‘She needs to be called something other than “Baby Petrakis”,’ Madison said. ‘So I was wondering…now she’s here, would you like to call her after your mother?’

Theo shook his head. ‘Maybe as a middle name. And we’d also need your mother’s and Eleni’s names as middle names, too. No. I think she needs her own name.’