Chapter Forty-Six:
Matt and Maxie rushed to Patrick who was staring into the empty exam room. "What happened?" Maxie asked him.
"I don't know." Patrick said softly.
"What do you mean you don't know," she yelled and Matt put his hand on her arm. "Sorry, can you tell me where Robin is?"
"Surgery, I think," he said.
Maxie looked at Matt. "He is in shock. Sit with him while I find out what's going on."
Matt watched her leave and he looked at his brother. "Patrick, let's sit down here," he led them to a set of chairs and they sat down. "What can I do for you? I called mom and dad, they are on their way."
Patrick looked at him. "I think I'm a dad now."
Matt smiled. "You sure are. I can attest to that. Did she deliver the other baby or are they doing that now?"
Patrick smiled and looked at his hands. "Two girls."
Matt hugged him. "That's awesome, man. Congratulations."
"They need their mother. I need their mother," he said and put his head in his hands.
Matt felt terrible for his brother. He put his arm around him as they sat there. Maxie came back to them and Matt looked at her. "Do we know anything?"
Patrick wiped his eyes and looked at her. "They are finishing up. Dr. G will be out in a minute." Maxie said.
Patrick looked at his brother. "The babies are in danger. We need to make sure they are safe. Brad is still out there and he wants the babies," he looked panicked. "How can I protect them? What am I going to do?"
"Let me take care of that." Maxie said. "I will go make sure they are guarded," she turned and walked off.
Matt looked at Patrick. "See, they will be fine."
"They are so small, too small," he whispered.
"So is Robin, and look how much of a fighter she is. They will make it." Matt said.
Patrick nodded. "Thanks, for everything."
Matt nodded back at him and they saw Max walk up. Patrick stood up, waiting for the worst. "Robin is in recovery. We were able to stop the bleeding, but there were complications."
"What kind of complications?" Patrick asked.
"Robin suffered from postpartum hemorrhage and although we were able to stop the bleeding, she lost a considerable amount of blood volume. We are transfusing her now, but it will be a difficult road to recovery for her. Because of her Multiple Sclerosis, her immune system is already compromised and coming back from this will be a challenge. She is completing an MRI as we speak and then the neurologist will consult with you both." Dr. Max sighed. "She is remarkable. Delivering the babies the way she did, under such enormous stress to her body, well it is amazing all three of them survived. The nurse will be here to take you to see her in a minute. She should wake up soon, but it is important to keep her as calm as possible."
"Thank you," Matt said as the doctor walked away. The nurse came to take Patrick. She looked at Matt.
"I'm sorry, just one for now," she said.
Matt nodded. "I'll be right here if you need anything."
Patrick hugged his brother and followed the nurse. They walked to the room and the nurse handed Patrick a pair of scrubs. "They are almost done getting her all set up. You should change out of your wet clothes. When you're done, they should be done and you can go in."
Patrick took the clothes and nodded before walking into the bathroom across from the room. He looked at himself in the mirror and couldn't believe the events they had gone through. He peeled off his wet clothes and pulled on the scrubs. He put his clothes in the garbage, not wanting to see them again. He walked out and into her room. She looked like she was sleeping, but he knew how wrong that was. Her stomach was still swollen, but dramatically smaller. He walked up to the bed and sat down, taking her hand in his. He saw her face where she had been struck and the swelling by her lip. He kissed her hand and ran his fingers over her arm.
"Robin? Can you wake up and look at me?" he asked her. "I am going to be very selfish for a minute and tell you that I need you to wake up and be okay. It isn't manly or adult, but I am begging you. I can't do this. I can't live this life without you," he pressed her hand to his cheek. "People always joke about how connected we are and it's true. You are my whole world," he put her hand down and smoothed her still damp hair away from her face. "I am so sorry this happened to you. I can't imagine the fear you must have felt amidst the pain you were experiencing. You are the strongest person I know and you can fight through this. You just need to open your eyes and we will face this together," he leaned in and kissed her gently. He sat back down and saw her eyes open.
"Patrick?" she asked in a whisper.
He smiled at her. "Welcome back."
"The babies?" she asked, her eyes full of fear.
"We have two beautiful girls," he said through his tears.
"Two girls?" she asked, smiling a tiny smile. "Are they healthy?"
He was so proud of her; he couldn't stand it. "They are tiny and full of fire, like their mom," he realized he didn't know much about how they were. The doctor was supposed to come and give them an update.
"Did you hold them?" she asked him.
"I held Jelly, but they took them both to the NICU right after bean was born. They are taking excellent care of them and we will have a report soon," he said.
"We need to protect them. Brad wanted to take," she began to cry and Patrick was alarmed.
"Shhh, they are safe. No one is going to take them. Maxie is with them and she won't let anything happen to them. You need to take care of yourself right now," he stroked her cheek.
"I want to see them. They need to know we love them," she said through her tears.
He kissed her hand. "They know. They know because you almost gave your life protecting them. They know because they have been with you for almost 8 months. They are connected to us like we are connected to each other. We have a beautiful family Robin."
She looked into his eyes. "I love you so much. I was so scared but when you found me, I knew everything would be okay. You saved me and our girls."
He shook his head. "I did nothing but act like a scared child. If Maxie and Matt hadn't come, I don't know what would have happened. I owe them so much."
She squeezed his hand. "You would have done whatever you had to do. I am grateful they were there, too, but you are my strength, Patrick. You are all I ever need."
He wiped his eyes as Dr. Max walked in with Dr. Coleman. "Well I am glad to see you are awake." Max said. "Before I turn you over to Dr. Coleman, I want to talk to you about the babies. Baby girl Jelly, for lack of a better name at this point, is 3 pounds 8 oz. She is 15.5 inches long. She is having a little trouble breathing on her own, so we will support her for now and help her oxygen saturation. Baby girl bean is 3 pounds 6 oz and 15 inches long. She is also having a little trouble breathing on her own, so we are supporting her, but I'm hopeful in a few days we can remove the support. She is strong and put up quite a fight while we tried to put in the IV. I am very pleased with their progress so far. We aren't out of the woods, but they appear to be on the right track." Max smiled.
"Can we hold them?" Robin asked weakly.
"When you are a little stronger, I will have you taken to see them. You need to replenish your fluid and blood volume first. Patrick, you can hold them and sit with them whenever you would like." Max squeezed her hand. "You did great, Robin. Congratulations."
"Thank you," she said and Max walked out. Patrick wiped her cheeks and they looked at Coleman who walked up and sat down.
"Jelly and Bean?" he asked.
Patrick looked at Robin. "We will work on that," he smiled.
Coleman smiled at Robin. "We did a brain MRI on you, and I have the results. It's important to remember that we really don't have a previous scan to compare this to because we didn't scan you while you were pregnant. The way we look at brain scans with an MS patient is to look for lesions in the white matter of the brain. The lesions that are older will look like scars in the tissue. The lesions that are new, or enhancing, mean there is active disease. The lesions never go away, they just lie dormant, so to speak. Someone can have a lot of lesions and have no disability or effect, and others can have one lesion and have symptoms. It all depends on where the lesions are located. On your scan, we saw about 4 enhancing lesions, which represent active demyelinating disease," he saw her eyes well up with tears and Patrick squeezed her hand.
"It doesn't mean that you will have any problems, Robin. The worst part of this disease is the uncertainty of what is affected and when or if you will even notice. My main concern is the stress to your system. You know that stress can exacerbate symptoms and although you obviously can't stop feeling stress, especially considering what you just went through, you need to try and remain calm and positive. Until we can get you up and run some tests, I am not sure if there is any reason to start on steroids. Just try and sleep and recover and we will talk again later today," he stood up.
Patrick looked at him and thanked him before he left. He sat back down and looked at her. "We have two healthy daughters and you are doing remarkably well. I think that's cause for celebration."
She wiped her eyes, fighting her exhaustion. "They are so small and need help to breathe. I should have done better, Patrick. It's my job to give them the best start and I already failed."
He took her face in his hands and looked at her. "I will not listen to that, Robin. You are the best mother. You have been through unbelievable stress and challenges through this pregnancy. You helped me through a horrible time and were my strength. You were diagnosed with MS and faced the challenges with grace and integrity. You protected our children and ensured they were brought into this world safely despite horrible circumstances," he started to tear up. "I almost lost you and them. I almost lost everything and I will not let you beat yourself up for any of this. If you feel angry, blame me. If you need strength, take mine, but don't ever feel like you failed."
She looked at him. "I'm sorry. You're right. I love you so much."
He shook his head and leaned in to kiss her. "You are my hero. I love you."
She closed her eyes, exhausted. "You need to go see them, please. I need to hear they are okay from you."
He didn't want to leave her. He was scared to go. "I'll go soon."
She looked at him and exhaled. "They need to know they aren't alone. They need their daddy's love."
"They need both of us," he said and looked at her as she slept.