Here comes chapter 14! I have to say I don't really know much about childbirth so if you do, and this is horribly inaccurate then I'm sorry. All my info about pregnancy came from the books, What To Expect When You're Expecting and Pregnant and Lovin' It which came from Goodwill! Hey, I'm cheap, give me a break.
Anyway, so here it is….Elizabeth is having the baby. Read on and give me some feedback. And incase anyone is wondering, this is not the end of the story, stay tuned for more after the birth.
Disclaimer: I do not own ER or any of the characters, I'm just borrowing them for this fun story, so don't sue me. And no information was taken directly from the above mentioned books. I just read them to help me better understand what a pregnant woman goes though.
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Half an hour later, Dr. Coburn was back to check on Elizabeth, just as she had promised.
"All right, let's take a look," she said, taking a seat on a stool in front of Elizabeth.
After a few minutes, Coburn stood up, motioning for the nurse to move closer.
"Ok, Elizabeth, there's nothing to worry about yet, but you're still only at six centimeters. And with you being a few weeks early I want to go ahead and hook up a monitor to the baby, just as a precaution."
"Is there something wrong with the baby. What's happening?" Elizabeth asked, panicked.
"No, Elizabeth. There's nothing to worry about yet. I just want to be prepared in case complications arise later on. Right now everything is progressing normally."
Elizabeth took a deep breath and looked at Robert. He gave her a reassuring smile and kissed her hand.
"The nurse is going to hook up the monitor now and I'll be back to take another look later. The nurse has my pager number, so if you have any questions or concerns about what's happening just let the nurse know, and she'll page me, ok?"
They both nodded as Dr. Coburn pulled her beeping pager off her belt and dashed out of the room to another delivery.
As the nurse came over to hook up the fetal monitor, Elizabeth shifted uncomfortably in her bed.
"I have to go to the bathroom."
"Are you steady enough on your feet to make it?" the nurse asked. "I'll help you into the bathroom."
"I can do it," Robert told the nurse, getting up from his seat and going to help Elizabeth out of the bed.
"A nurse is really supposed to go with her, but I'll make an exception this time, since you are a doctor."
"Thank you," Robert told the nurse graciously.
Slowly, Robert and Elizabeth made their way to the bathroom and when they approached the door, Robert gave Elizabeth a wary look.
She noticed his apprehensiveness, but in a firm voice she told him "I can do it myself. I don't need your help." She tried to look confident, but her shaky legs gave her away.
He looked deep into her eyes, and with the most caring voice she had ever heard from him he whispered, "Let me help you." That was all it took. She nodded a small, almost imperceptible nod and he half carried her into the small restroom, shutting the door behind them.
A few minutes later, they both emerged from the bathroom, Elizabeth leaning mostly on Robert as he helped her back into the bed.
*******************************************************************
An hour later, Elizabeth lay comfortably in her bed, the fetal monitor hooked up and beeping to the heart rate of the baby.
Elizabeth was dozing off in the bed, as was Robert in the chair next to her.
"Elizabeth, how are we doing in here?" asked Dr. Coburn who was back for another check up of mother and baby. Both of their eyes snapped open as they struggled to awaken and listen to the doctor.
Sitting down, and pulling up the sheet covering Elizabeth's legs, Dr. Coburn quickly performed her examination and took a look at the fetal monitor. Robert noticed that she looked slightly concerned, like something might be wrong.
"What is it?" Robert asked.
"Ok, we need to talk." She sat down next to them both. "It's been a whole hour, and you're still only dilated to six centimeters. The longer we wait and leave the baby in there, the more chance there is of complications and infection. We've still got some time, but if you don't start progressing along soon, we might have no choice but to perform a c-section."
"Oh, no. I don't want a c-section." Elizabeth said, almost starting to cry.
"It might be our only option. We'll wait as long as we can, but it's a real possibility."
"Everything's going to be ok, Elizabeth. I promise, I won't let anything happen to you or the baby," Robert told her, trying to reassure her.
Robert sat down in the bed at her side. He watched as her face crumpled and took her in his arms as she buried her face in his chest.
"We'll wait one more hour and then decide. I'll leave you two alone now," she said and exited the room quietly.
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After another hour of waiting, Elizabeth was still quite a bit short of seven centimeters and Dr. Coburn made the decision to go ahead with the c-section. The OR was already set up and waiting for them.
As they were getting Elizabeth ready for surgery, Robert was planning on scrubbing in himself to be there for the procedure. But before he could leave to go prep himself, Elizabeth grabbed onto his arm and with a desperate look in her eyes she pleaded with him, "Make sure I don't get Babcock. Don't let him be in there. You know how I feel about him."
"I promise I'll kick his ass if he comes anywhere near you," he said giving her a small smile as he headed out to get gowned and scrubbed.
A few nurses came and wheeled Elizabeth into the operating room, putting a cap over her head and booties onto her feet.
Then a doctor suddenly appeared in front of her and began explaining what would be happening.
"You'll be awake for the entire procedure. Since you've had the epidural you won't be able to feel anything. We should have the baby out fairly quickly, so just relax and everything should go just fine. You'll be a mother soon." The doctor smiled and disappeared from Elizabeth's sight.
There were doctors and nurses buzzing all around the operating room setting up trays of instruments and doing other little things. Robert came into her view dressed in scrubs, a mask and a surgeons cap. He reached for her hand right away.
"How are you holding up?" he asked, which came out a little muffled through his mask.
"I'm all right," she told him. Then added, "A little scared."
"I'm going to be here the whole time so you've got nothing to worry about."
" I know."
"Ok, let's get started," the doctor announced.
Robert pulled up a stool next to Elizabeth's head and sat down.
"Making the first incision, note the time," the doctor stated.
As the doctors did their work, Robert continued to reassure Elizabeth that everything was going fine. They even talked about baby names. If it was a girl, they had narrowed it down to Alexis, Lexi for short. If it was a boy it would be Thomas, after Robert's father.
Finally the baby was ready to come out.
"Ok, here it comes," the doctor said as the baby was pulled out. After a few seconds, the infant began to cry, and Robert and Elizabeth looked at each other, both with tears in their eyes.
"It's a girl! You two have a girl," announced the doctor.
"Dr. Romano, would you like to come cut the umbilical cord?"
He nodded and kissed Elizabeth on the cheek before stepping up to cut the cord. The nurse quickly wiped off the baby and wrapped her in a blanket, handing her over to Robert.
Robert carefully crossed the room, and knelt down for Elizabeth to see their daughter.
"Look," he cooed at the Lexi. "Here's your mom."
"She's beautiful," Elizabeth said, a tear trickling down her cheek. He reached over and brushed it away.
"Ok, I've got to take her back now, and you're still not finished yet. I'll be right back." He took Lexi over to the nurse, who placed him in the carriage and wheeled him outside, heading towards the nursery.
The sound of alarms going off behind him drew his attention back to the operation.
"She's bleeding out. We need to get this bleeding under control now!" one of the doctors yelled.
"What's happening?!" Robert yelled. He quickly rushed back to where Elizabeth's head rested. She looked dazed, like she didn't know what was going on. Her eyes were fluttering closed.
"What's going on?" she whispered, but before he could answer her, everything went black.
*******************************************************************
Elizabeth drifted out of the fog she had been in and was suddenly aware that she was now in a hospital room. Slowly she opened her eyes and waited a second for them to adjust to the dimness in the room. Glancing to her right, she realized that Robert was in the room sitting in a chair in the corner holding the baby.
Robert glanced up from the baby when he heard Elizabeth stir.
"Hey, you're awake," he said, getting up from his seat to bring her the baby. "Here's mommy," he told Alexis, gently placing the baby in her open arms.
Elizabeth smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "What happened in there? All I remember was alarms going off and then everything went blank."
"You lost a lot of blood. We were afraid you weren't going to make it for a while there. But you pulled through. I knew you would."
"How long have I been asleep?"
"About two hours. They just brought the baby back in about an hour ago. I've been holding her ever since. I couldn't seem to put her down."
"I wonder how long that will last," she said smiling at him.
He laughed. "Listen, Elizabeth. I need to say something to you. I've been waiting for a good time to do this. And… well, now seems like pretty good time."
Elizabeth's whole body tensed up. What was he talking about? Surely he wouldn't break up with me right after I had a baby, she thought to herself.
Robert reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box. Sitting down next to her and taking her hand, he began to say what he had been wanting to for so long. "Elizabeth. In all my life, I never thought that I could be this happy. I used to think that work, and surgery were the most important things, but I was wrong. Nothing could ever be better than being here with you and this baby. And so…Elizabeth, will you marry me?"
"Oh my gosh, Robert," she said as he opened the box to reveal the ring inside. "It's beautiful."
"There was only one reason why I've been waiting to ask you. I knew I wanted to get married right away, no long engagement. But I also though that this time, maybe you'd like to get married when you're not pregnant. So what do you say?"
"Of course. Yes, I'll marry you," she said. He slipped the ring onto her finger and leaned in to kiss her, but they were interrupted by the baby, who had started to cry.
They both laughed and looked down at her. "I think someone's hungry," said Robert.
Right on time, a nurse came into the room. "I need to check your blood pressure, and examine your incision now. And then we'll go over breast feeding."
"I'm going to go grab something to eat. I'll be back in a little bit," Robert told her.
"I love you. Hurry back."
"I love you too," he said, and then turned and went out the door.
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Well, I hope you all liked it! And please review. I want to break 100 reviews before the end of the story, so any comments or feedback you have to offer will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!!
Anyway, so here it is….Elizabeth is having the baby. Read on and give me some feedback. And incase anyone is wondering, this is not the end of the story, stay tuned for more after the birth.
Disclaimer: I do not own ER or any of the characters, I'm just borrowing them for this fun story, so don't sue me. And no information was taken directly from the above mentioned books. I just read them to help me better understand what a pregnant woman goes though.
*******************************************************************
Half an hour later, Dr. Coburn was back to check on Elizabeth, just as she had promised.
"All right, let's take a look," she said, taking a seat on a stool in front of Elizabeth.
After a few minutes, Coburn stood up, motioning for the nurse to move closer.
"Ok, Elizabeth, there's nothing to worry about yet, but you're still only at six centimeters. And with you being a few weeks early I want to go ahead and hook up a monitor to the baby, just as a precaution."
"Is there something wrong with the baby. What's happening?" Elizabeth asked, panicked.
"No, Elizabeth. There's nothing to worry about yet. I just want to be prepared in case complications arise later on. Right now everything is progressing normally."
Elizabeth took a deep breath and looked at Robert. He gave her a reassuring smile and kissed her hand.
"The nurse is going to hook up the monitor now and I'll be back to take another look later. The nurse has my pager number, so if you have any questions or concerns about what's happening just let the nurse know, and she'll page me, ok?"
They both nodded as Dr. Coburn pulled her beeping pager off her belt and dashed out of the room to another delivery.
As the nurse came over to hook up the fetal monitor, Elizabeth shifted uncomfortably in her bed.
"I have to go to the bathroom."
"Are you steady enough on your feet to make it?" the nurse asked. "I'll help you into the bathroom."
"I can do it," Robert told the nurse, getting up from his seat and going to help Elizabeth out of the bed.
"A nurse is really supposed to go with her, but I'll make an exception this time, since you are a doctor."
"Thank you," Robert told the nurse graciously.
Slowly, Robert and Elizabeth made their way to the bathroom and when they approached the door, Robert gave Elizabeth a wary look.
She noticed his apprehensiveness, but in a firm voice she told him "I can do it myself. I don't need your help." She tried to look confident, but her shaky legs gave her away.
He looked deep into her eyes, and with the most caring voice she had ever heard from him he whispered, "Let me help you." That was all it took. She nodded a small, almost imperceptible nod and he half carried her into the small restroom, shutting the door behind them.
A few minutes later, they both emerged from the bathroom, Elizabeth leaning mostly on Robert as he helped her back into the bed.
*******************************************************************
An hour later, Elizabeth lay comfortably in her bed, the fetal monitor hooked up and beeping to the heart rate of the baby.
Elizabeth was dozing off in the bed, as was Robert in the chair next to her.
"Elizabeth, how are we doing in here?" asked Dr. Coburn who was back for another check up of mother and baby. Both of their eyes snapped open as they struggled to awaken and listen to the doctor.
Sitting down, and pulling up the sheet covering Elizabeth's legs, Dr. Coburn quickly performed her examination and took a look at the fetal monitor. Robert noticed that she looked slightly concerned, like something might be wrong.
"What is it?" Robert asked.
"Ok, we need to talk." She sat down next to them both. "It's been a whole hour, and you're still only dilated to six centimeters. The longer we wait and leave the baby in there, the more chance there is of complications and infection. We've still got some time, but if you don't start progressing along soon, we might have no choice but to perform a c-section."
"Oh, no. I don't want a c-section." Elizabeth said, almost starting to cry.
"It might be our only option. We'll wait as long as we can, but it's a real possibility."
"Everything's going to be ok, Elizabeth. I promise, I won't let anything happen to you or the baby," Robert told her, trying to reassure her.
Robert sat down in the bed at her side. He watched as her face crumpled and took her in his arms as she buried her face in his chest.
"We'll wait one more hour and then decide. I'll leave you two alone now," she said and exited the room quietly.
*******************************************************************
After another hour of waiting, Elizabeth was still quite a bit short of seven centimeters and Dr. Coburn made the decision to go ahead with the c-section. The OR was already set up and waiting for them.
As they were getting Elizabeth ready for surgery, Robert was planning on scrubbing in himself to be there for the procedure. But before he could leave to go prep himself, Elizabeth grabbed onto his arm and with a desperate look in her eyes she pleaded with him, "Make sure I don't get Babcock. Don't let him be in there. You know how I feel about him."
"I promise I'll kick his ass if he comes anywhere near you," he said giving her a small smile as he headed out to get gowned and scrubbed.
A few nurses came and wheeled Elizabeth into the operating room, putting a cap over her head and booties onto her feet.
Then a doctor suddenly appeared in front of her and began explaining what would be happening.
"You'll be awake for the entire procedure. Since you've had the epidural you won't be able to feel anything. We should have the baby out fairly quickly, so just relax and everything should go just fine. You'll be a mother soon." The doctor smiled and disappeared from Elizabeth's sight.
There were doctors and nurses buzzing all around the operating room setting up trays of instruments and doing other little things. Robert came into her view dressed in scrubs, a mask and a surgeons cap. He reached for her hand right away.
"How are you holding up?" he asked, which came out a little muffled through his mask.
"I'm all right," she told him. Then added, "A little scared."
"I'm going to be here the whole time so you've got nothing to worry about."
" I know."
"Ok, let's get started," the doctor announced.
Robert pulled up a stool next to Elizabeth's head and sat down.
"Making the first incision, note the time," the doctor stated.
As the doctors did their work, Robert continued to reassure Elizabeth that everything was going fine. They even talked about baby names. If it was a girl, they had narrowed it down to Alexis, Lexi for short. If it was a boy it would be Thomas, after Robert's father.
Finally the baby was ready to come out.
"Ok, here it comes," the doctor said as the baby was pulled out. After a few seconds, the infant began to cry, and Robert and Elizabeth looked at each other, both with tears in their eyes.
"It's a girl! You two have a girl," announced the doctor.
"Dr. Romano, would you like to come cut the umbilical cord?"
He nodded and kissed Elizabeth on the cheek before stepping up to cut the cord. The nurse quickly wiped off the baby and wrapped her in a blanket, handing her over to Robert.
Robert carefully crossed the room, and knelt down for Elizabeth to see their daughter.
"Look," he cooed at the Lexi. "Here's your mom."
"She's beautiful," Elizabeth said, a tear trickling down her cheek. He reached over and brushed it away.
"Ok, I've got to take her back now, and you're still not finished yet. I'll be right back." He took Lexi over to the nurse, who placed him in the carriage and wheeled him outside, heading towards the nursery.
The sound of alarms going off behind him drew his attention back to the operation.
"She's bleeding out. We need to get this bleeding under control now!" one of the doctors yelled.
"What's happening?!" Robert yelled. He quickly rushed back to where Elizabeth's head rested. She looked dazed, like she didn't know what was going on. Her eyes were fluttering closed.
"What's going on?" she whispered, but before he could answer her, everything went black.
*******************************************************************
Elizabeth drifted out of the fog she had been in and was suddenly aware that she was now in a hospital room. Slowly she opened her eyes and waited a second for them to adjust to the dimness in the room. Glancing to her right, she realized that Robert was in the room sitting in a chair in the corner holding the baby.
Robert glanced up from the baby when he heard Elizabeth stir.
"Hey, you're awake," he said, getting up from his seat to bring her the baby. "Here's mommy," he told Alexis, gently placing the baby in her open arms.
Elizabeth smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "What happened in there? All I remember was alarms going off and then everything went blank."
"You lost a lot of blood. We were afraid you weren't going to make it for a while there. But you pulled through. I knew you would."
"How long have I been asleep?"
"About two hours. They just brought the baby back in about an hour ago. I've been holding her ever since. I couldn't seem to put her down."
"I wonder how long that will last," she said smiling at him.
He laughed. "Listen, Elizabeth. I need to say something to you. I've been waiting for a good time to do this. And… well, now seems like pretty good time."
Elizabeth's whole body tensed up. What was he talking about? Surely he wouldn't break up with me right after I had a baby, she thought to herself.
Robert reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box. Sitting down next to her and taking her hand, he began to say what he had been wanting to for so long. "Elizabeth. In all my life, I never thought that I could be this happy. I used to think that work, and surgery were the most important things, but I was wrong. Nothing could ever be better than being here with you and this baby. And so…Elizabeth, will you marry me?"
"Oh my gosh, Robert," she said as he opened the box to reveal the ring inside. "It's beautiful."
"There was only one reason why I've been waiting to ask you. I knew I wanted to get married right away, no long engagement. But I also though that this time, maybe you'd like to get married when you're not pregnant. So what do you say?"
"Of course. Yes, I'll marry you," she said. He slipped the ring onto her finger and leaned in to kiss her, but they were interrupted by the baby, who had started to cry.
They both laughed and looked down at her. "I think someone's hungry," said Robert.
Right on time, a nurse came into the room. "I need to check your blood pressure, and examine your incision now. And then we'll go over breast feeding."
"I'm going to go grab something to eat. I'll be back in a little bit," Robert told her.
"I love you. Hurry back."
"I love you too," he said, and then turned and went out the door.
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Well, I hope you all liked it! And please review. I want to break 100 reviews before the end of the story, so any comments or feedback you have to offer will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!!
