Jac felt the midwife place the baby on her chest. Her daughter. "Do we have a name yet?" the cheery young girl asked brightly.
"We don't have anything yet. I really don't feel the decision is anything to do with you, either," the redhead snapped at her. The girl smiled sympathetically, then mistook Jac's exasperated sigh to be an expression of regret of her sharp words.
"You'll feel better after a bit of sleep, love. Don't worry, ladies are often a bit snippy once it's all over. Adrenaline rush of giving birth, your body has just been working so hard for the last nine months, and suddenly a little life beside you! You're bound to be a bit emotional."
"I'm familiar with the concept of childbirth, thank you, medical school did teach me something," Jac said, closing her eyes.
"I'll leave you in peace for now, I'll pop back and see you before I finish my shift," the midwife told her, slipping out of the room and leaving Jac alone with her baby for the first time. Jac looked down at the tiny creature, skin to skin with her, and sighed once again.
"What on earth am I supposed to do now?"
"Jonny Mac! Could do with a hand here, like now!" Mo yelled from bay one. Jonny dashed in to find Mo holding a cardboard kidney dish as their patient vomited blood into it.
"We need I.V. access," Mo said, shoving the dish into Jonny's hands and scrabbling in the equipment trolley for a cannula.
"It's okay, Rebecca," Jonny said soothingly, stroking the young girl's hair as Mo found a vein and sited the cannula successfully. Two other nurses dashed into the room and began to set up bags of fluid. Mo motioned for Jonny to follow her into the corner of the room.
"We need GS down here now. Where the hell is Michael?"
"Mo, it's three in the morning. He's been paged, but he was probably still at home, he'll be on his way. Even if he wasn't at home, they're pretty stretched right now," Jonny said. "What's the plan? She needs her surgery tomorrow, but we can't do that if she keeps coughing blood up. Which you seem remarkably calm about, by the way."
"She had bulimia, Jonny. I'm 99% certain this is a Mallory-Weiss tear. The repeated vomiting could have caused the tear, and if she coughed earlier on it could have caused the bleed to occur now. Chances are, GS will give her the once over, increase her obs, and just keep an eye on her."
"99% certain? And what about that other 1%?" Jonny asked.
"That's what we page Michael for," Mo said with a wink. Right on cue, the door burst open and Michael entered.
"Right, what you got for me?" he asked.
"Rebecca High, 22, suspected Mallory-Weiss tear, history of bulimia and anorexia, bulimia being the primary issue. She's due a mitral valve replacement in the morning," Mo said.
"We'll keep an eye on her. If I think she needs it, we'll do an endoscopy for confirmation in the morning. However, you do not operate tomorrow without my say-so, okay?" Michael said in his American drawl. Mo nodded. "Good. I'm heading back downstairs in that case. Maconie," he said, catching sight of Jonny. "Congratulations on becoming a dad, although I'm surprised you're here. Can't say you're not dedicated to your job. When are we wetting the baby's head?" Jonny stared at him.
"What? No way. Mr. Spence, tell me you are screwing with me," he said, a look of horror spreading across his face. Michael held his hands up.
"Just been doing a consult on maternity. Jac's up there. You really didn't know? Oh man, so much for patient confidentiality."
"And the baby's definitely been born? She's not in just as a pre-emptive measure?" Jonny demanded to know.
"Well, unless she's stolen someone's baby, or borrowed one maybe, she's had the kid," Michael said. Jonny looked at Mo, who nodded, and he raced off in the direction of the maternity wing.
"Can I help you?" the tired looking midwife at the nurse's station asked him. Probably from one of the medical wards, come to borrow some equipment or something, she thought.
"Yeah, my name's Jonny. I'm here to see Jac Naylor," he said breathlessly.
"It's half three in the morning," the woman said. "Is this a social visit?"
"She's just given birth to my daughter," Jonny replied. "Are you going to let me know which bed she's in?" The midwife looked him up and down. Miss Naylor's reputation
had preceded her before she was admitted, and the idea of the father of her child being a nurse seemed too strange to be true. They had all been aware of her ice queen persona. Or maybe she was just sleep deprived and was getting the patient's social history mixed up, she thought wryly.
"Give me a minute. They have been in the room less than an hour, I imagine she's probably sleeping," she said, standing up and walking down the corridor.
"Thank you," Jonny said. His head spinning. He was a father. His baby girl was just down that the corridor, and he hadn't even known that she existed in her own right, that she had been brought into the world less than two minutes walk away from where he had been rushing about so frantically. Was she okay? Was Jac okay? The two had maintained nothing more than a cordial, working relationship throughout Jac's pregnancy, but it had never crossed his mind that she would be so cold as to neglect to inform him of their child's imminent arrival. Two babies were crying on the ward, and he could hear the soft cries and the shushing even from his spot by the door. Eleanor, the midwife, popped her head out of a door about half way up the corridor.
"Come on in, dad," she said, smiling. Jonny took a deep breath and walked up the dimly lit corridor. Eleanor held the door open for him. "I'll just be outside if you need anything." Jonny thanked her and stepped into the room.
Jac was laying on the bed, her eyes closed, the tiny baby sleeping on her chest. Jonny looked at the two of them, both looking so small and vulnerable, and thought that Jac had truly never looked more beautiful. Exhausted, yes, but beautiful. "Maconie, it's the middle of the night. You should be working," she said softly, not bothering to open her eyes.
"Jac, I just had to find out about the birth of my daughter from Michael Spence. Michael flipping Spence! And you tell me I should be at work? Why didn't you let me know? I would have been here. I wanted to be here!"
"I'm sorry, I was a little busy having a baby," Jac said sarcastically. "I am sorry if the foremost thought in my mind was the safety of my child, and not paging some jumped up nurse with an inferiority complex! Jonny bristled.
"For God's sake, Jac..." he started. Then she turned her head to look at him.
"I was...frightened. I didn't know what to do for the best. I'm sorry." Jonny shook his head and took a few steps closer, leaning down to press a kiss to Jac's forehead.
"She's beautiful, Jac. You're beautiful," he whispered. "Have you named her?" Jac shook her head.
"I love Freya. I adore Freya, but Freya Naylor is like some god-awful Geordie slang," she said.
"Naylor? Not Maconie?" Jonny said, his heart sinking.
"Yes," was the simple response, Jac's steely eyes daring him to challenge her. Even exhausted by labour, Jac was still formidable. Jonny decided to leave it for the time being.
"She needs a name, a one as beautiful as her," he said.
"Any suggestions, Florence Nightingale? And we are not naming her Nessie, I don't care how Scottish you are."
"I thought we had decided on Charlotte for a girl?" Jonny asked, ignoring her jibe.
"She just doesn't...feel like a Charlotte," Jac said. "Do you want to hold her? You'll see what I mean." Jonny nodded and leant down, picking the baby up and holding her to him. The movement and sudden rush of cold from being moved from Jac's warm body woke the baby up, and she stirred, and wriggled in Jonny's arms, and then finally opened her eyes.
"Oh, my God," Jonny said, looking down on the child. "You're perfect. Hello, angel, I'm your daddy," he said, his eyes filling with tears as his daughter looked up at him trustingly with her huge blue eyes, and he had to sit down on the edge of Jac's bed as his legs trembled. "You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, you and your mammy are the most beautiful girls in the world." Even as he spoke, he expected some sharp comment or witty rebuke from the woman on the bed beside him. But it didn't come. Instead, she leant her head on his shoulder, looking at their daughter. He rested his head on hers, and the three of them sat in silence for a few moments before Jac spoke.
"What about...Catherine?" Jonny looked at his daughter and smiled.
"It's beautiful. It suits her, Catherine it is," he said. Jac put her hand on his arm. "Catherine Freya, maybe?" Jonny suggested, knowing how much Jac had been affected by the tiny patient.
"No. Catherine Elspeth," she said.
"I thought you hated my mother's name?" he said questioningly.
"I don't hate your mother's name. I hate your mother," she said with a small smile. Jonny laughed.
"Well, Catherine Elspeth Naylor, welcome to the world."
"Naylor. Congratulations," Michael said, entering the room.
"You're dead, Spence," Jac said. "You broke all manner of patient confidentiality regulations, you and your big mouth. Not to mention causing Mary Poppins over there to dash up here," she said, with a nod at Jonny, who was sitting with the baby in his arms, just watching her. Michael frowned.
"Don't be so hard on him, Jac. He's a good guy," the American told her. Jac rolled her eyes.
"He's just like a pathetic little puppy, fawning all over everything," she said.
"His first child has just been born, give the man a break. Hell, I nearly lost it when Jasmine was born, there's nothing like in this world." Although he was smiling, Jac could see the hurt in his eyes at the mention of this topic. "Promise me Jac, you won't stop him seeing her. It kills me everyday that I don't see my girls, that they're growing up without me. Don't do that to him." Jac reached out and touched his arm gently.
"I won't." Their heartfelt moment was ruined as the door swung open and Sacha and Chrissie burst into the room, Sacha laden with balloons and a huge teddy bear. Jac sighed. "From the sublime to the ridiculous..." she said quietly to Michael, who grinned.
"How's mum?" Sacha beamed, passing the balloons to Chrissie and dropping the teddy on the end of Jac's bed. "Our shifts start in, ooh, about three minutes, but we had to drop in, laden with gifts of course, to meet little...actually, what is she called?"
"Catherine. That bear is big enough to kill her, Sacha, it's the stupidest thing I've ever seen in my life. The thought is greatly appreciated, of course, even if it may result in the death of my daughter," Jac said waspishly. Chrissie glared at her. The nurse made no pretence at liking the surgeon.
"Just thought I'd drop in and see Daddy Mac before I head home" the door had opened again and Mo had entered, who was leaning against the wall and grinning widely.
"Here, budge up," she said, moving Michael out of the way. "Let Aunty Mo have a look," she said, leaning over the baby in Jonny's arms. "Nice job, guys," she said softly, looking up at her consultant. The door to the tiny room opened once again and Elliot walked in.
"Oh, for God's sake," Jac said. "Elliot, I am of course thrilled to see you, but we now have a registrar, two nurses, four consultants and a baby all in the world's tiniest room. It's like a bad joke," Jac said.
"We'd better get going, Sacha," Chrissie said. "We were due to come on shift about five minutes."
"I'm heading home, I've had the night from hell," Michael said. Mo agreed and said she would leave too.
"I shan't stay, I know how important family time together is," Elliott said. "I simply wanted to offer my congratulations to you both, Miss Naylor and Nurse Maconie. I have no doubt in my mind that you will both be wonderful parents." With that, he turned and left. The others said their goodbyes and left, leaving, once again, Jac, Jonny and Catherine alone. Jonny exhaled loudly.
"Well, ladies, it looks like it's just the three of us now."
