Page 34 of Prognosis So Done

CHAPTER THIRTEEN - 1900 HOURS

It was Harriet’s turnto scrub in. She almost passed. She almost said to Siobhan and Katya that she would circulate again but a stubborn brain cell somewhere refused to let Gill off the hook. He was going to have to look her in the eye as he passed the baby to her and she would meet his gaze with a silent challenge in hers.

It would say, you, too, could have this. You, too, could

create human life and rejoice in it and make a real contribution to this world.

Sure, he already did that but this was so much more personal. This was about fulfilling biological destiny, becoming the person all human beings were born to become.

A parent.

She left Katya and Siobhan setting up as she tied her mask

in place and flicked on the taps. Ripping open a sterile pre-soaped sponge, Harriet began her thorough three-minute surgical

scrub. She started at her fingertips, paying special attention

to her nail beds, and worked her way down the fingers to the

palms and backs of her hands.

Gill joined her and began his scrub at the sink beside her.

She ignored him as much as she could ignore possibly one of the most gorgeous men on the planet, and continued working the sponge down, scrubbing at her wrists and further still until all the way down to her elbows was now sterile.

She held her soapy arms upright in front of her as she put them back under the tap and let water and soap sluice off her arms, running from her fingertips and dripping off her elbows.

Harriet shut off the tap with a push of her elbow and stood

still for a moment, waiting for the elbow dripping to settle. She flapped her arms a little to hasten the process.

As she departed, her arms still upright, Gill said, ‘Did

the paracetamol help?’

‘Yes, thank you.’ It had, actually. The niggle was noticeable when she moved, but had practically all but disappeared otherwise. But she would have said yes even if it

hadn’t been the case. She wouldn’t have given him the satisfaction of being right.

Harriet had her gown on and was just finishing gloving when Gill entered the theatre. She moved away from the trolley as he approached and busied herself at the other trolley near the operating table, opening packs and sorting her instruments. She asked for Betadine to be poured into one of the metal bowls and did a swab and instrument count with Siobhan followed by a suction check.

The silence in the theatre was broken as Joan and Helmut wheeled a hysterical woman inside. She was crying and moaning and Theire was talking calmly to her. Goose-bumps broke out beneath the long sleeves of Harriet’s gown at the cries that needed no interpreting.

It was patently obvious as the woman clutched at her abdomen that she was terrified over the welfare of her baby. Harriet felt her own abdomen twinge in sympathy, responding to the young mother’s plight. She couldn’t be much more than twenty and the ugly tube hanging out of one side of her chest would have been more than enough to deal with.

Theire explained as the woman shuffled over onto the

operating table that Joan was going to put her to sleep and when she woke up she would have a beautiful baby. Harriet kept her fingers crossed they didn’t encounter any complications.

Joan injected an anaesthetic agent into her IV and the woman’s cries petered out.

‘Okay, let’s go,’ said Gill.

––––––––

Joan intubated thewoman and had her hooked up to monitors

and ready to go in five minutes. Harriet passed Gill the drapes one at a time until the woman completely disappeared beneath a sea of green and they had a large, sterile operative field.

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