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Logan was patient with everyone. ‘I’ll call, of course I will. I was going to anyway.’
‘Who do I have first?
‘Sandra King. She’s sitting in the waiting room with a dopey look on her face so I think we all know the reason for her appointment.’ Janet winked and Evanna thought back to Kyla’s comment.
‘Let’s hope so. Is she first?’
‘Yes.’ Janet leaned forward and lowered her voice. ‘I made it a double appointment, just to be on the safe side. I had one of my feelings. If I’m wrong, you can use the time to catch up on some of the paperwork that your replacement didn’t touch.’
‘Good thinking.’ Evanna walked through to her room and sat down at her desk. It felt good to be back. She turned her head and glanced around the room. In the corner was a basket stuffed with toys that she’d selected herself and the walls were covered in posters that she’d chosen from the wide selection available to her. Everything was just as she’d left it. The heaviness that had settled inside her lifted and she switched on her computer and pressed the buzzer.
Sandra tapped on the door a few seconds later, her husband by her side. ‘I’m pregnant, Nurse Duncan.’ She was bursting to tell the news, her smile dominating her pretty face. ‘I missed a period and I did the test yesterday and it was positive.’
Full marks to Kyla for observation, then. ‘That’s great, Sandra. Congratulations.’
‘I couldn’t sleep at all last night, just thinking about it. I want to have it here, on the Island, and I want you to deliver it,’ Sandra blurted out, and Evanna gave a careful smile.
‘Why would you want to have him, or her, at home?’
‘Because I was born on Glenmore and I want the same for my children.’
‘You were the third child,’ Evanna said evenly, opening her drawer and pulling out the appropriate forms. ‘First babies are better born in hospital, Sandra. I can quite understand your wish for the delivery to be as natural as possible, but we can achieve that in hospital.’
‘But I’m young and healthy. Is it because it makes more work for you?’
‘It isn’t the work for me that’s a problem. I love the home deliveries. But having a baby at home does come with risks,’ Evanna said, her voice level. ‘No obstetrician would ever advise a woman to have her first baby at home. And the other problem is that Glenmore is quite remote. No matter how carefully we monitor you, things can change very quickly in childbirth. Emergencies do happen and when they do, you want to be within easy reach of a specialist unit.’
‘But there’s the helicopter.’
The memories came rushing back. The evil weather. Catherine critically ill. ‘If the weather is bad, it can’t fly,’ Evanna reminded her gruffly, and Sandra was silent for a moment.
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t think. You’re thinking about what happened to Dr MacNeil’s wife, aren’t you? When Catherine became ill they wanted to fly her to the mainland but the helicopter couldn’t get here. She died because of it.’
And Logan, griefstricken and racked by guilt, had made a heroic effort to save the baby.
His daughter. Little Kirsty, now a bouncy, healthy one-year-old.
Evanna felt sadness swamp her but kept her expression neutral. This wasn’t the time to think about Logan. ‘Catherine MacNeil was an extremely unusual case. It’s unlikely that the outcome would have been different, even if she’d been in a consultant unit on the mainland.’
‘But we all know that’s why Dr MacNeil won’t consider home births.’ Sandra sighed and glanced at her husband. ‘I hadn’t really thought about it properly. Perhaps it would be more sensible to have it in hospital. What do you think?’
Her husband nodded, visibly relieved by her change of heart. ‘Definitely. You know that was always my preference.’
‘The community unit is lovely. I just spent a week there as part of my refresher course,’ Evanna told them. ‘I did three weeks on the labour ward in the hospital and a week at the unit. They’ve done up their delivery rooms to look like bedrooms so it’s home away from home, really. I think you’ll like it.’
‘But I can have most of my care with you and Dr MacNeil?’
Evanna nodded. ‘Absolutely.’
‘Will I need to go to the hospital at all?’
‘You’ll need to go to there for an ultrasound scan between ten and thirteen weeks,’ Evanna told her, reaching for a leaflet, ‘and then again between eighteen and twenty weeks for another scan. Apart from that, providing there are no problems, we can do everything else here. Today I’ll take some blood from you so that we can check your blood group and screen you for some conditions.’
She ran th
rough all the tests that could be done and Sandra looked at her husband.
‘We want all of it, don’t we? I’m not taking any chances. You know how long we’ve waited for this to happen.’
