Forty Two

Book:Rich Love Published:2024-6-2

“What’s happening to me? Is the baby okay?” she repeated the same question as they reeled her on a gurney.
They arrived only 15 minutes later at the hospital, she was bleeding all the way there.
Doctor Collins was by her side along with the nurses who pushed the gurney to the emergency room. “We don’t know yet, Jamie, we will take a look and you will have to stay calm.”
“But there’s so much blood, it can’t be good … oh my God, is my baby okay?” she started to cry.
Doctor Collins stroked her hair, “It’s okay honey, take deep breaths, we’ll have a look at your baby.”
When they arrived at the ER, Gabriel and Perry were asked to wait outside.
“Blood pressure … let’s check the vitals.”
Everyone was busy around her. She couldn’t focus on anything other than the fact she was bleeding. “I can’t feel the baby,” she cried. “I can’t feel the baby,” she was panicking.
They smeared cold gel around her stomach and Dr. Collins began her examinations. She looked concerned as she moved the scanner from one side to another, she shook her head.
“What is happening, doctor? Is my baby okay?”
Dr. Collins pressed her lips together, she pressed the scanner harder on the side of her stomach, she shook her head once more. “I can’t find her heart beat,” she said finally.
“What? What does that mean? Doctor … please … what’s happening?” Jamie started to hyperventilate.
“Jamie, … your blood pressure is really high right now, I will have to sedate you … I’m so sorry … it’s gonna be okay … I’m so sorry,” and then she injected something to her arm.
Gabriel sat quietly in the waiting room while Perry paced back and forth. There was so much blood, it soaked into the seat of Gabriel’s car., too much to assume that everything was going to be alright. But there was a tiny light of hope that Dr. Collins would come out of the ER with a wide smile on her face to tell them that everything’s fine.
That tiny light of hope was soon diminished when Dr. Collins emerged 30 minutes later with a gloomy look on her face. Gabriel stood up, Perry stopped his pacing and covered his mouth. It was a look they dreaded to see after what seemed like an eternity of agony waiting for some kind of news.
“Ms. Knox is sleeping right now, she had a panic attack so we had to sedate her … her blood pressure was increasingly high,” she drew a long breath, “I’m so sorry … I’m afraid he had a miscarriage … It’s a very rare case but it happens in one out of two hundred pregnancies where the baby died in the womb without any distinctive cause … she was fine on our last examination two weeks ago … there was absolutely no reason to suspect any abnormalities whatsoever.”
“Are you sure, doctor? You mean the baby died? Is that what causes the bleeding?” Perry was still able to form words out of his mouth while Gabriel stood numbed.
“I’m afraid so … There was no movement, no heartbeat, we were able to stop the bleeding and we took some blood work samples to be sure, … but from my experience … this is a case of a miscarriage and we will have to conduct an emergency C-section.”
Perry turned to Gabriel to see his response.
“It’s a girl?” Gabriel asked.
“It was a girl … I’m very sorry for your loss … both of you … I will need you to sign approval for the surgery … when you’re ready,” she replied.
“And Jamie? Will she be okay?” Gabriel asked again.
Dr. Collins sighed, “Health wise … her body will have to recover from this the same way if she had a baby … she will go through puerperal phase for a few weeks, she will feel the exhaustion, her uterus will adjust and shrink back to its normal size … physically she will return to normal … but mentally, she will need all the support she can get, should she need a therapy, I can recommend one for her.”
“Did she know her condition prior to her sedation?”
“She was still conscious when I informed her that we couldn’t find the baby’s heart beat, but she was in a state of panic … I doubt she will remember any of it once she’s awake.”
Gabriel nodded, he stroked his hair in distress, “Where do I sign?”
**********
When she opened her eyes, everything was a blur. Her brain tried to make out where she was and why she was there. The smell of the hospital reminded her of what happened … vaguely. She saw the sad look on Perry’s face and then Gabriel’s, “What happened? What’s going on?”
Perry held her hand, and let it go, he couldn’t do it. He walked away and gave Gabriel the space to break the news to her.
His eyes were wet, he wasn’t crying anymore. He took Jamie’s hand and sat beside her. He leaned closer to her, their face touched.
“Have you been crying? What is it Gabriel? Tell me what happened?”
“Jamie … sweetheart … I’m so sorry,” he said with a trembling voice.
“Why? Is the baby okay? Is there something wrong with the baby?” She was on the verge of crying.
Gabriel swallowed hard, he looked deep into her eyes, he had to be strong for her too, “We had a miscarriage … Jamie … there was nothing we could do.”
“No! How could that be? It was fine when we checked … it can’t just … no? Are you serious?” she touched her stomach, it was still swollen but it felt lighter, it felt empty. “No! Gabriel?” she looked at him.
The baby was there when she was conscious, it wasn’t there anymore. As the reality sinked it, Gabriel felt a stab in his heart to see the expression on her face.
“This can’t be … Gabriel … please tell me it’s not true … where’s my baby?”
How he wished he could tell her what they all needed to hear. He pulled her tightly, she lost it. Her cry and despair sent everyone in the room into tears. There’s nothing more painful than to hear the cry of a mother who had lost her child. It felt like the end, like they could never recover from something like this. How could they have failed even before the baby was born?