Chapter 21************* Recovery********************************
Dr. Addison Montgomery walked over to the worried trio in the waiting room.
"How's Charlotte?" Cooper was holding his breath waiting for the answer.
"Charlotte did okay. I was able to remove the placenta fairly easily in the OR. However she lost a lot of blood while we were at home waiting for the ambulance. We've been transfusing her with blood and clotting factors since she arrived at the hospital." Dr. Montgomery explained.
"Will she still be able to have more children?" Momma King asked.
"Yes, I left her uterus intact. There moving Charlotte to the recovery room now. Normally they don't allow visitors in recovery but since Charlotte runs this hospital the staff is willing to extend professional courtesy and let you all in." Addison explained.
"Oh that would be great!" Momma King was relieved she could see her daughter.
"They're putting her in a room in the corner typically used for isolation patients, so you can have some privacy. I'll be back to check on her later today."
"Remind me to send those nurses a big box of candy." Cooper told Addison as he headed to the recovery room with Momma King and Violet.
When they approached Charlotte they could all see she was asleep. She was white as her bed sheets and had a blood transfusion running in through an IV. They all gasped at the sight of her. Cooper held onto one hand while Momma king held on to the other. A young nurse came over.
"Hi, I'm Tammy. I'm Dr. Kings' nurse. You can hold her hand and talk with her. She's going to be very weak because of the blood loss but try to talk to her and wake her up. The sooner she wakes up the sooner we can move her out of here into an icu room."
"Why does she need icu?" Violet questioned.
"It'll probably be just for today. Dr. Montgomery wants her blood counts closely monitored and we anticipate her to need more transfusions" nurse Tammy told her.
"This reminds me of the time Charlotte was fifteen years old. Charlotte was competing in a horse show with Marjorie, that was Charlotte's horse. Marjorie threw Charlotte off her back during a jump. Charlotte spent two days in a coma. Her father and I sat by her side holding her hand and talking to her until she woke up." Momma King went on to tell the story. "When Charlotte returned home from the hospital she was mad at Marjorie. Marjorie and Charlotte had competed in tons of horse shows over the years and took home many ribbons and trophy's. So Charlotte was upset at Marjorie for throwing her this time. She wouldn't go out to her stall and care for her like she normally did. Marjorie died two days later. The Vet said it was an equine flu and that Marjorie probably had it a while and that's why she threw Charlotte at the show. Marjorie was already feeling sick at the point. After that Charlotte felt guilty. She didn't want to come home after school knowing Marjorie wasn't there. She started hanging around this new group of kids. Her brother Duke told us they were known to be heavy marijuana smokers. My husband and I could smell it on Charlotte's hair. We confronted her about it and then she ran away. The police found her at the friends' house. Charlotte was humiliated. She didn't speak to big daddy and I for weeks after that.
"Wow." Cooper replied. "I knew Charlotte had a horse named Marjorie but she didn't tell me any of the rest."
"Charlotte isn't much of a talker." Momma King went on. "She tends to keep it all bottled up inside."
"Poor Charlotte" Violet added. "It seems like she's had a good share of problems in her life."
"Well you know what they say darlin'. 'What doesn't kill ya will make ya stronger' and my baby girl is one tough cookie because of it."
Charlotte started to open her eyes. "Hey baby girl. Momma's here and so is Cooper and your friend Violet." Charlotte looked at all three of them worried.
"Are the baby's okay?" she asked. Her voice clearly very weak.
"Yes they're great Charlotte." Michael is in the nicu and doing well. He's two and a half pounds and Sarah is perfect she's four and a half pounds. She'll probably come home from the hospital before you do." Cooper decided not to tell Charlotte that Michael was on a ventilator or that he had pneumonia. He figured that could wait until she was stronger.
"That's great." Charlotte said in a very weak voice.
"Hey Charlotte I was thinking. Why don't we call the baby Sarah Marjorie? Remember you wanted to name a baby girl Marjorie last year when we talked?" Cooper understood now why she wanted to name the baby after her horse. At the time he thought it was silly.
"I'd like that Coop." Charlotte gave a small smile and so did Momma King.
"Since Charlotte is awake now I think I'll go take a peek on the babies. Goodbye darling. I'll come visit you later when you're in your room." Momma King gave Charlotte a kiss on the head.
"I'll go with you." Violet called after Momma King wanting to give the couple some privacy.
"Charlotte I'm so glad you're okay! I thought for a minute there that I might have to raise the twins on my own and I just couldn't do it." Cooper confided.
"Sure you could Coop. You're going to be the world's greatest dad." Charlotte responded.
"But I wouldn't want to do it without you Charlotte. Charlotte. I love you more than anything and I never want to be without you again."
"Me too Coop. Me too". Charlotte said as Cooper gave her a gentle kiss.