Page 8 of Falling for my First Crush

I give him a practiced, calm smile. “I’m sure she’s doing the best she can. Mom, how are you doing?”

The woman gives me a weary smile. I can tell that she’s exhausted, like so many women are when they are in labor. “It feels like I’ve been stuck at the same place forever.”

I grab her chart and check her stats. “Has anyone been in to check your cervix recently?”

She shakes her head. “No, I don’t think so. Is it too late to request an epidural?”

Before I can answer, the monitor next to the bed starts to alarm like crazy. “What’s going on?” the dad demands.

I ignore him as I hurry to approach the bed. The baby’s heart rate has plummeted. I say, “I’m going to get the doctor. I’ll be right back.”

On my way out of the room, I grab Steffie, one of the other nurses on duty. “Dad’s freaking out,” I say. “I have to go find Dr. Daniels. Baby’s heart rate has dropped.”

Steffie nods. I hurry towards the nurse’s station, hoping that Dr. Daniels is there. He isn’t, but Chiara is there. She’s acting as charge nurse today. When I reach her, she can tell from my expression that something is wrong.

“Dr. Daniels?” I say.

“I’ll page him. Room?” she asks.

“Two forty-three,” I say. “Heart rate drop. Mom is too pale. I think she might be hemorrhaging internally.”

Chiara grimaces. I nod and then head back to the room. When I get there, I can see that the chaos has increased. The dad is hovering behind Steffie, as she checks the mom’s pulse. Mom has gotten paler. She looks like she might pass out any second. That’s a problem. I hope Dr. Daniels gets here soon.

“Baby’s heart rate keeps dipping,” Steffie says quietly just to me, so as not to alarm the parents. “I called for an anesthesiologist.”

I can see that she is thinking that this is going to be an emergency c-section. That makes sense, just seeing how mom is slipping in and out of clarity. She hasn’t lost consciousness yet, but she’s not too far from it, and the baby’s heart rate keeps plummeting. Steffie has been pushing all the meds that we would normally give at this point. With no sign of the situation stabilizing, we decide to start prepping for surgery, even though Dr. Daniels isn’t here yet.

Steffie pulls me to one side. “Dad is making things worse,” she says. I can hear the frustration in her voice, but I also know that she knows how he’s feeling.

Thankfully, Dr. Daniels walks into the room at that moment. “Okay,” she says, assessing the situation quickly. “We’re going to move you into surgery and get this baby delivered.”

“What? No, Luna didn’t want a c-section,” the dad says, but he sounds small and lost. My heart goes out to him.

“No choice. We have to do what is best for both Mom and Baby. Right now, that’s a c-section,” Dr. Daniels says in her no-nonsense way.

“Come on,” Steffie says, putting an arm around the dad’s shoulder. “I’ll get you prepped so you can be ready when Luna comes down. It’s time to get ready to meet your baby.”

The dad allows himself to be led away. Dr. Daniels turns to me. “Have you called anesthesia yet?”

“Steffie did,” I reply.

Dr. Daniels nods. “Good. Luna? Stay with me, okay? We’re going to deliver your baby. How does that sound?”

Luna moans, but doesn’t respond otherwise. From the look Dr. Daniels gives me, I can tell that she thinks the situation doesn’t look great either. Luna has a grayish tone to her skin that just looks completely unnatural. Baby’s heart rate keeps dipping to dangerously low levels. There is no sign of a hemorrhage, but all the indicators are there.

“Do you think it’s a placental abruption?” I ask in a low voice.

“I do. Her abdomen was rock hard when I felt it a moment ago,” Dr. Daniels says. “As soon as…ah, Edward, I’m glad you’re here. We need to get her into the OR immediately for a c-section. Please make sure she has a spinal block in place.”

Edward, the anesthesiologist nods and moves quickly to the bed. He gets straight to work, and I move to help him, because Luna is barely responsive. He can’t move her by himself. For a moment, Luna opens her eyes and looks right into mine. As she holds my gaze, I feel like she wants to tell me something, but she can’t find the strength or the words. I reach out to squeeze her hand before going right back into surgery mode.

We get Luna into the OR swiftly, and the c-section begins. Luna’s husband, whose name I still haven’t caught, stands off to one side, looking slightly sick to his stomach. He can’t see what’s happening, but the imagination is far more powerful than we give it credit for. Luna has closed her eyes, but now that the surgery is actually happening, she seems to have rallied. Closing her eyes seems to help her concentrate on what is being done to get her baby out.

The moment Dr. Daniels pulls the baby out, she hands the child to me to bring over to Dr. Severson, the pediatrician on call today. The infant doesn’t cry. I see that they’ve had a little boy. I glance over at the little guy’s parents, as I hurry to the isolette where Dr. Severson is waiting. The father looks stricken. He knows that the baby needs to cry. Something is clearly very wrong. Luna keeps her eyes closed, and I honestly can’t be sure if she is awake or if she has passed out.

“It’s a boy,” I say into the tense silence of the room.

Normally Dr. Daniels would have made that announcement, but she is concentrating on Luna with such intensity, that I know something is wrong with her as well. The whole atmosphere in the OR is full of fear. Everyone seems to be holding their breath. I linger by Dr. Severson, hoping that he can get the baby to cry or to show some sign that he’s going to be okay. I offer prayers for the family, especially mom and baby, as well as Dr. Daniels and the team here, something I do often in my job. Some days, it’s prayers of thanksgiving and joy; other days, like today, my prayers are for wisdom, and mostly just a plea for help.

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