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Sue’s husband, Eddie, was sitting on the bed, his face ashen.
‘Will she be all right?’
‘She is very ill,’ Luca said honestly, ‘but she is in the right place and we are doing everything we can.’
Eddie’s face crumpled and Luca put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. ‘Come with me to the relatives’ room,’ he said quietly, ‘and I can explain exactly what is happening.’
They left the room and Tia was alone with Sue.
She checked her patient’s blood pressure again and then tensed. As she watched, Sue became suddenly restless, her head drawn to one side, then her body went into spasm and she started to fit.
‘Damn!’ Smashing her hand against the emergency button, Tia immediately inserted an airway, quickly disconnected the CTG machine and shifted Sue into a semi-prone position.
Grabbing the oxygen, she placed the mask over Sue’s face, knowing that care of the mother was everything.
She heard footsteps outside the door and sighed with relief.
Reinforcements…
Luca came back into the room at a run, his eyes taking in the problem immediately.
‘I want to give her magnesium sulphate,’ he ordered, his voice calm and level as he delivered his instructions. ‘Give her 4 g in 100 ml of normal saline over at least five minutes, and then I want an infusion rate of 1 g an hour for 24 hours.’
Tia prepared the drug and gave it to Luca to check.
‘All right.’ He gave the drug and glanced towards Dr Ford. ‘Check her patellar reflexes every fifteen minutes. Tia, her resps should be more than sixteen a minute. Check every fifteen minutes and if it drops below that I want to know immediately. And let’s keep an eye on her urine output.’
Duncan Fraser, the anaesthetist, hurried into the room at that point and Luca glanced up, his expression grim.
‘We need to section her now.’
Duncan nodded. ‘Let’s get on with it, then.’
It was the fastest section Tia had ever seen, and in no time the baby was out and screaming with outrage.
‘Sounds hopeful,’ Luca commented, his eyes still on the wound. ‘Julie? Give me some good news on the baby.’
‘He seems fine.’ Julie Douglas, the paediatric registrar, had the baby on the rescusitaire and was checking it over. ‘Small, of course—I’ve warned Special Care to expect a new customer. How’s Mum?’
‘Not good.’ Luca didn’t look up. ‘Someone, please, tell Eddie that he has a little boy. The man must be out of his mind with worry. Tia, can you do that?’
‘Of course.’
Tia checked again that the baby seemed all right and then walked into the anteroom where Eddie was pacing, frantic with worry.
‘Eddie, you have a baby boy,’ Tia said softly, and he stared at her, ashen-faced and stunned.
‘A boy?’ He looked at her stupidly and then shook his head, rubbing a hand around the back of his neck to relieve the tension. ‘Ridiculous, isn’t it? We always wanted a baby, and now we’ve got one I don’t really care. All I want is for Sue to be back to normal. How is she?’
‘She’s poorly,’ Tia admitted, ‘but she’s getting the best possible care. Dr Zattoni is just finishing in Theatre and then she’ll be transferred to ITU. You can go and see her when they’ve sett
led her down.’
‘And the—my son?’
‘He’s beautiful.’ Tia smiled at him. ‘Very small, so he’ll be in Special Care for now. The paediatrician is taking him up there now. Are you ready to see him?’
Eddie licked his lips. ‘I don’t know.’
