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Chapter 5:
The midwife took one look at Eddie and didnt even introduce herself as she recognised Eddie straight away. They had had a number of run-ins when Eddie had worked in the hospital. It took Luc a few seconds to recognise the midwife, then he realised that she was the one that Eddie had the blazing row with in the corridor a few days before she left Holby. The midwife's expression turned to ice.
"Well, well if it isnt Nurse McKee. Which lucky man got you into this state?" the midwife asked sarcastically.
Eddie didn't respond, she was starting to feel woosier and woosier. Luc stepped in instead.
"I'll thank you not to speak to a patient in this hospital like that. Oh, and by the way I'm the lucky man" Luc replied angrily.
The midwife backed down and took up Eddie's chart to look at it. A look of concern came over her face. She noticed that the baby's heart rate had been gradually getting slower over the last few hours. She immediately went over to the ultrasound machine.
"I need to check the baby, can you pull up your t-shirt?" she asked Eddie. Eddie weakly pulled up her t-shirt and the midwife got on with the scan. Luc moved around to get a better look at the screen. He was mesmerised by the images of the baby on the screen and his eyes began to water. It suddenly hit him that he was going to be a father. He looked over at Eddie but she had her eyes closed.
"Eddie, do you see this? It's our baby" he asked but Eddie didnt respond. Luc walked over nearer the bed and touched Eddie's face.
"She's ice cold" he exclaimed to the midwife.
The midwife didnt respond as she was concentrating on the screen. "Ok, this is really not very good" she finally said.
"What's wrong?" asked Luc.
"We need to get your girlfriend into surgery now and deliver this baby, she's slowly bleeding out from a placental abruption" shouted the midwife panicing. She reached over to the wall and pressed the emergency button. All hell broke loose as Sacha and a number of nurses came speeding into the room. The midwife quickly explained to Sacha what was happening. Sacha made straight for Luc.
"I'll do my best for them, I promise" he quickly said to Luc before running out of the room after Eddie who was been driven quiclky towards theatre in her bed. Luc hesitated for a minute and then ran after them.
Luc ran into the threatre area, pulled off his jacket as fast as he could and started getting himself dressed in a gown and mask like Sacha was doing beside him.
"Luc, you can't help. She's your girlfriend" Sacha explained.
Luc looked at Sacha as if he was saying something foreign to him. "I know but I have to be there if only to hold her hand" replied Luc.
Sacha nodded, he understood what Luc meant. Sacha quickly set to work performing the c-section on Eddie. The theatre was frantic with nurses coming in and out with equipment. Sacha lifted the baby out of Eddie's stomach and quickly passed it to a waiting nurse. Luc followed behind the nurse as she brought the baby over to the side of the room to clean it up. There was no sound coming from the baby which made Luc panic even more. The nurse quickly applied a tiny oxygen mask to the baby's mouth and a small squeal came out of the baby. The nurse turned to Luc and smiled.
"You have a little girl, she's tiny but she's breathing on her own" she said to Luc. Luc smiled as tears rolled down his face.
"You can hold her for a minute or 2 but then we have to put her in an incubator" the nurse said to Luc as she handed him his daughter.
Luc gently held the tiny baby and kissed her on the forhead. "Hi little one, I'm your daddy" Luc whispered to his daughter.
He quickly brought her over beside Eddie's head. "Say hello to your mummy little one" Luc whispered and the baby let out another little squeal. Eddie was still unconscious but Luc thought that maybe she'd hear her baby's cry.
At that exact moment Sacha exclaimed "I think that's it fixed" talking about the bleed inside Eddie that he'd been frantically trying to repair.
"The impact of the car accident caused more internal damage to her than the scans showed but it looks like we got it in time" Sacha continued. The nurses and theatre staff let out a small cheer.
Luc patted Sacha on the back and said a quiet thank you to him.
"You got with the baby and I'll finish up here with Eddie. I'll let you know when she's back on the ward" Sacha said to Luc. Luc took Sacha's advice and followed his baby daugter to the nursery ward.
Chapter 6:
Eddie woke up about two hours later. She was really groggy and confused. She turned her head to find Sacha asleep in the chair beside her bed.
"Sacha, Sacha" she called weakly.
Sacha woke up with a start. "Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked.
"Like I've been run over by a ten tonne truck" Eddie replied with a weak smile. "What happened?" she asked.
"We had to perform an emergency c-section because you had some internal bleeding. It's ok, I sorted you out" Sacha replied with a smile.
Eddie looked down at her stomach and started to panic. "The baby?" she asked.
"You're little girl is in an incubator in the nursery. She's a little fighter like her mum" Sacha replied beaming.
Eddie smiled and tears started streaming from her eyes.
"Luc's down there with her. I told him I'd bring you down when you woke up" Sacha continued.
"Well what are we doing hanging around here then?" asked Eddie excitedly.
Sacha ran out into the ward and grabbed a wheelchair. He brought it back in and helped Eddie into it along with all of the drips and bags that were still attached to her.
Sacha wheeled Eddie down to the nursery as fast as he could, trying not to run over anyone along the way. They got to the nursery window and Eddie told him to stop. She quietly watched Luc giving their tiny baby a bottle while sitting in a rocking chair for a few minutes and then told Sacha to start driving again.
Sacha wheeled Eddie into the nursery and parked her beside Luc. Luc smiled at Eddie and she smiled back at him.
"Little one, say hello to your mummy again?" Luc said to his daughter. The baby just gurgled.
Eddie moved closer to them and lightly brushed her daughter's face. "Hi little munchkin. So you've been the one kicking me for the last few months" she said as tears streamed down her face.
"She's having her first bottle and we've just changed your first nappy, havent we" Luc said.
"She's so small" Eddie said.
"She's not that small, she's 4 pounds and 5 ounces which the nurses tell me is a good size considering how premature she was" Luc told them proudly. They all smiled.
"Congratulations you two. I'm going to go now. I've got Daniel for the night. I'll see you three tomorrow" Sacha said.
"Thank you so much for everything" Luc said.
"Yes, thank you so much" Eddie said. She pulled Sacha down to her and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Sacha smiled and left them.
Eddie turned her attention back to the baby and Luc.
"How are you feeling now?" Luc asked.
"Very weak and really tired" Eddie replied as she tilted her head and rested it on Luc's shoulder. He turned his head to her and kissed her forehead.
"You can hold her in a minute or two when she's finished her bottle and then its back to bed for both my girls" he said smiling. Eddie took her daughter's hand and looked at the tiny id bracelet on it. It read Baby McKee.
"You didnt get them to call her Hemingway then?" she asked.
"No. It's hospital policy to give them the mother's surname" replied Luc. "Speaking of names, what are we going to call her?" he asked.
"I like the name Ava, what do you think?" Eddie replied.
"I like it, she looks like an Ava. And a middle name?" Luc asked.
"I dont know. Any ideas?" asked Eddie.
"How about Lilly after my grandmother?" Luc asked.
"Ava Lilly, sounds good to me" replied Eddie.
"I think that's it settled then. Are you finished your bottle Ava Lilly McKee?" Luc asked his daughter. Ava Lilly gave out a tiny burp and Luc and Eddie laughed. Luc handed the baby to Eddie who cradled her in her arms until both of them fell asleep.
Luc gently put Ava back in her incubator and kissed her. He then gently wheeled Eddie back to her bed on the ward trying his best not to wake her up.