“I’m so tired.”
Dan bit his lip. This was going to be a challenge. He could still carry his wife’s pregnant form, but the bags might be a challenge as well. “Sarah, I’m going to need your help here. What bags am I supposed to take?”
She pointed at one waiting near the door. “It just needs, just needs…” She closed her eyes again, and he realized she looked a little paler than normal.
“Just needs the baby stuff, okay.”
He hastily grabbed the baby bag, then swung her up in his arms, carefully balancing the bags, collecting her handbag on the way out.
“It’s nice to have you back,” she murmured sleepily.
“So, are you feeling okay?”
She yawned. “I’m just so tired.”
“You relax, Princess. We’ll get you there soon.”
Once he propped her inside the Jeep, he gunned the engine. Fortunately, the traffic was minimal; peak hour was still a little way away and they made it in good time.
He parked, then carrying the bags, escorted his wife through the foyer, swiftly gaining directions to the maternity section. He followed Sarah to the monitoring room and watched as she was strapped in, and the machines began to whirr and beep. Her blood pressure was taken, the nurses looked at each other, then exited the room, but Dan could hear them outside.
“This is the one Dr. Feldman told us about. We’ll need to get a rush on.”
They soon returned, and Sarah was wheeled to a room, where a doctor who partnered with Dr. Feldman frowned. “Given the complex nature of things, I think we’d be better off to do a C-section.”
Sarah’s eyes opened wide. “No! No, I’m not being cut open.”
Dan didn’t blame her, having spent months in hospital after her car accident seven years ago. Half the scars on her body were from the injuries sustained from her car accident; the rest were from the surgery.
He held her hand and addressed the doctor. “We have been assured by Dr. Feldman that we can do this without surgery. Call her if you need to check.”
The doctor studied the chart again. “Okay, but she needs to be monitored closely. Let’s start with the gel asap.”
Moved to a new room, Sarah had some gel inserted before she was encouraged to lay back and rest.
Dan didn’t like the pale sheen, and this lethargy was something different. “Sweetheart, tell me how you’re feeling.”
Big anxious green eyes turned to him. “Scared.”
He kissed her on the cheek. “Princess, it’s going to be fine. You heard what the nurses said. You need to rest.”
“But there’s still so much to do.”
“It’ll get done.” He’d planned to sort out the baby’s room this weekend, when Sarah was supposed to be at Jackie’s for the baby shower, but now he’d have to ask for help. “Sweetheart, the more you worry, the higher your blood pressure, and the more they’ll insist on a Cesarean, so stop panicking.” He smoothed his hand over her hair. Would his little son or daughter have the same beautiful color? Oh man, he was going to be a dad in a few more hours. How awesome.
As he prayed with her, he noticed her start to relax, the stress starting to recede, until she finally fell asleep.
“Hey, Dan. Good to see you got her here in time. How is she?” Dr. Feldman popped in, checking the charts at the end of the bed.
“She’s just fallen asleep. She’s been pretty lethargic.”
“Hmm. We’ll have to keep monitoring that. I don’t know if she explained things, but her blood pressure is sky high, and I’m concerned that the baby will be in distress if we leave things for too long.”
His heart fisted.Lord!“If… if the baby is distressed, will you have a team to help?”
“Of course. I had to make a few calls, but they’re on standby.” Dr. Feldman’s face softened. “But the fetal monitoring is showing things are normal. Remember, the most recent scans showed there was no longer any abnormality of the heart or brain cavities. You can rest assured, because your child is coming early, we’ll have a space ready in the NICU if necessary.”
There was so much to absorb, so much they hadn’t planned, this situation felt like it was spinning out of control. But he did know one thing. “We really don’t want you to do surgery.”
