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‘Never. You’re right.’ Sharon nodded agreement. ‘He’s the coolest doctor I’ve ever worked with but, still, you are his wife and obstetricians behave differently with their wives.’
Tia frowned thoughtfully.
Was Luca anxious?
He certainly didn’t seem to be. Unlike her.
Fortunately for Tia, the postnatal ward was very busy and she didn’t really have time to dwell on her own thoughts a
nd fears.
The weeks passed quickly and she was halfway through an early shift in the thirty-third week of her pregnancy when she felt a stabbing pain low in her abdomen.
She gave a soft gasp and stopped dead, clutching the notes that she’d been about to return to the trolley.
The pain gripped her fiercely and then vanished, leaving her tense and anxious.
What had caused it?
She rubbed a hand over the curve of her abdomen, trying to be rational. Towards the end of pregnancy it was normal to feel Braxton-Hicks’ contractions, mild contractions that made the uterus tighten up and contract in preparation for labour. She knew that sometimes they could be painful.
Was that what she had felt?
Should she call Luca?
Filing the notes carefully back in the trolley, she decided to carry on with her shift and see what happened. It was bound to be nothing. Maybe she’d pulled a muscle lifting something that she shouldn’t have done. What else could it be? She had at least another seven weeks to go until the baby was due.
And she really didn’t want to bother Luca with it. He’d only insist that she go home to rest and then she’d have to leave Sharon and the others in the lurch.
As it was, she only had one more week at work and she knew that Sharon had been searching for a replacement.
Determined to carry on, she checked her notebook and noticed that she still needed to do a daily examination on Mrs Burn, a thirty-year-old woman who’d had a forceps delivery during the early hours of the morning.
Putting her own problems to the back of her mind, Tia walked through to the four-bedded ward which was on the south side of the hospital. Despite the fact that it was still only March, the sun shone strongly through the window, making the room bright and warm.
‘Morning, ladies,’ Tia said cheerfully as she walked briskly up to Mrs Burn. She noticed immediately that the woman looked pale and tired. ‘I’ve just come to do your check, Lisa, if this is a good time for you.’
Lisa nodded slowly and tried to struggle into a sitting position.
Tia frowned. ‘Are you in a lot of discomfort?’
Lisa nodded, her eyes filling. ‘I can’t sit on my bottom at all. It’s agony. I know I’m being a wimp, but I can’t help it.’
‘You’re not being a wimp,’ Tia said immediately, her expression concerned. ‘Let me take a good look at you and then we can decide what to do.’
Tia started out by examining Lisa’s breasts, checking that they were soft and free from lumps, redness and soreness. ‘How’s the feeding going?’
‘All right,’ Lisa mumbled, ‘although I can’t sit up at all.’
‘Has anyone showed you how to feed lying down?’ Tia satisfied herself that everything looked healthy and then helped Lisa wriggle down the bed so that she could examine the uterus. ‘For a start, it’s so much easier at night just to feed the baby while you’re still lying down, and if you’re sore down below it will help you not to be on your bottom.’
Lisa shook her head. ‘They’ve been so busy up here since I arrived. Someone did help me latch her on the first time but I’ve been trying not to bother them since then.’
‘You don’t have to worry about that. It’s what we’re here for.’ Tia frowned as she palpated Lisa’s abdomen. She knew that, like most units, they were very stretched, but it made her uncomfortable to hear that Lisa had been reluctant to ask for help.
Satisfied that the uterus was well contracted and not painful, she asked Lisa various questions and then checked her perineum. What she saw made her wince. No wonder the poor woman was in pain. She had developed a severe haematoma of the vulva.
‘Lisa, I can see straight away what the problem is,’ she said quietly. ‘You’ve developed a blood clot down below. I’m going to call one of the doctors and ask them to take a look at you.’
