Disclaimer: I don't own Chicago Fire or any affiliated shows, or the characters thereof. This is just for fun.
I hope that you like the latest chapter of An Occupational Hazard.
I'd like to send a special thanks to girlfromnorth for giving me a great idea of what scenes to add in future chapters :)
Chapter Six
Stella returned late that night, as she had been teaching her Girls on Fire program over at the high school. In all honesty, it had been utterly exhausting to keep up an upbeat facade for the girls, but Stella had no desire to burden them with the details of her current situation.
Paramedics, Sylvie and Emily, had done a fantastic job of helping to teach the program, yet Stella still felt awkward about accepting their help.
Stella could see Kelly sleeping soundly on the couch as she crept inside. She took in the presence of the oxygen prongs, but in that moment, Stella decided that she wouldn't mention their presence unless Kelly initiated the conversation.
It was nearing half past eight in the morning, so Stella gently nudged Kelly to wake him up. Kelly needed to keep to a strict medication regimen, so even if he just woke up long enough to swallow his tablets, that would do.
And that was exactly how the interaction went.
Soon afterwards, as she was curled up in the bed with Kelly, Stella felt a pain rip through her lower abdomen.
Stella tried to breathe through it, but the pain wasn't going anywhere. Eventually, Stella stiffly got out of the bed, and went into the bathroom. It was only as she caught a glance of herself in the mirror that Stella realised what may be happening. Bright red blood soaked her pyjama pants and dripped down her legs.
"Oh god..." Stella tried not to panic at the sight of her blood making little rivers down her legs. Still, she knew enough to know that she needed to get checked out at the hospital. "Kelly!" Stella called loudly, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.
This couldn't be happening.
A minute later, Kelly tentatively made his way into the bathroom. Stella could immediately see the fear in his eyes as he took in the situation.
Before Stella could speak, Kelly pulled his cell phone from his pocket, and dialled 911.
"...My girlfriend is ten weeks pregnant, and she's bleeding a lot," Kelly told the operator.
After a moment Kelly spoke again, "No, she's not considered high-risk, or at least I don't think so. You haven't seen an OB yet, have you Stella?"
Stella shook her head, the action made her feel dizzy. She carefully lowered herself to the floor, as she feared she might fall otherwise.
"No, she's not on any medications. Is the ambulance on its way?"
"We have a crew on the way right now. Is your girlfriend awake? Can she still talk to you?"
"She's awake, but she's very pale." Kelly turned to Stella, "You still with me, Stel?"
Stella tried to answer, but she could feel herself slipping out of consciousness, and only managed a few unintelligible words.
"She's unconscious. How far away is the ambulance?" Kelly couldn't help the terror he felt.
"They should be there any minute. Can you go unlock your front door to allow the paramedics in?"
"Yeah, just give me a minute." Kelly reluctantly left Stella alone in the bathroom, while he went to unlock the apartment's front door. "Okay, the front door's open."
"Okay, can you go back to your girlfriend? The paramedics should be arriving in the next couple of minutes."
"Alright."
"Good. Now, is she lying down?"
"Kind of. She's sort of fallen sidewards."
"Okay, we need to get her lying down with her legs elevated as high as possible. Can you do that?"
"Yeah, just gotta put you on speaker. Give me a minute," Kelly said before helping Stella lay down and then holding her feet as high as possible.
After a moment, Stella began to stir. "Wha' 'appened?"
"You passed out Stel, paramedics are on their way. Just be still."
Before Stella could respond, there was a loud knock at the door, and a moment later two unfamiliar paramedics came into the bathroom.
Small mercies, Kelly thought to himself. As much as he trusted the medics at firehouse 51, they didn't need the added complication in that moment.
"You can step back now, mister. We've got her," One paramedic said as the other started an IV in Stella's arm. They handed a bag of IV fluids to Kelly, instructing him to squeeze it to quickly get the fluids into Stella's system.
After checking Stella's blood pressure and other vital signs, they loaded her into a stair chair, gathered their bags, and headed out, but not before Kelly could insist that he had to ride with her to the hospital.
They initially didn't want to allow him in the ambulance, but then they'd noticed the rescue squad insignia on Kelly's shirt and the oxygen prongs that he hadn't thought to take off.
"Are you a firefighter?"
"I was... Just got diagnosed with lung cancer. Please tell me that she'll be okay."
"We've stabilised her for now, so let's just focus on getting her up to the hospital to get checked over. Then they can tell you more. You can ride up front."
After a nerve wracking ride, they arrived at the hospital, and Stella was lifted out of the ambulance on the gurney, while Kelly moved to be at her side.
"Early thirties female, presenting with vaginal bleeding with a first trimester pregnancy. She was briefly unconscious on scene, but responded to a fluid bolus. No other meds given on scene."
They pivoted the gurney to take Stella into a treatment room, and quickly transferred her from the paramedics gurney to a hospital bed.
Dr Choi was overseeing Stella's care, and quickly called for the nurses to run various blood tests and an ultrasound to assess the viability of the pregnancy.
After several tense moments, the ultrasound technician found the heartbeat, strong and steady, the pregnancy appeared to be developing in Stella's uterus. By all accounts the pregnancy was progressing normally.
"So why'd she collapse, doc?" Kelly asked as a Dr Choi exited the room.
"If I had to guess, I would say that Stella fainted in response to seeing that she was bleeding. The bleeding itself wasn't overly heavy, and something resembling a period is very common to see in early pregnancy. I'd like to admit her for bed rest for a couple of days though, but she could also do bed rest at home if that's easier," Dr Choi said, looking to the oxygen concentrator slung over Kelly's shoulder.
"I'll see what she wants to do. Thanks."
To be continued...
Please take a moment to leave a review!