Aftermath
"Mr. Calloway," Dr. Perkins said looking at Rod a bit nervously.
"Is Mac all right? Are the babies okay?" he asked anxiously. He had been going crazy, pacing the waiting room like a madman, wondering why it was taking so long. His whole life had been in that delivery room.
"Your daughter Rebecca is great. She's a fighter," the doctor informed him. "Of course, she's in the neonatal ICU along with her brother. They are co-bedding so that they don't feel alone. As that is a benefit of being a twin." The young doctor turned to the doctor that had come with her. "This is Dr. Redding, he is the twin's neonatologist."
"How's Horace?" Kate asked tentatively. "How is my daughter?"
"Horace is in critical condition. He has been intubated, so has Rebecca. But he was born with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and was in some serious distress. There is an incredibly broad base of complications that could arise in their conditions."
Kate placed a hand on Rod's shoulder as he listened to the condition of his children, then she looked over at Dr. Perkins and took her aside. "How's my baby?"
The doctor took Kate's hand and squeezed it. Then she looked over to Rod and came closer to him. "After the twins were delivered, Mac's blood pressure spiked. She suffered minimal renal damage. But she had a stroke and we won't know the extent of the damage until she wakes.
Rod and Kate looked at each other. She took his hand in hers. "Can we see them?"
"The twins are still getting settled while Mac is asleep in the intensive care unit two floors down."
"Thank you, doctor." Rod immediately went downstairs to his wife.
He saw her sitting there, her face etched with concern. He hated to see his wife that way. Michael had been trying to tie up some loose ends on his ship so that he could get home and wait for the arrival of his grandchildren. So when Kate called him to tell him that Mac was in the delivery room, he dropped everything and arranged a way to get back home.
He reached out to Kate. "How's our girl?" he asked taking a seat next to her.
She placed a hand over his and sighed. "She had a stroke Michael."
"Oh God," he said his face in his hands. "You know when she was trying, I thought how great it would be if Rod would get his way. She'd been so hot and cold about pregnancy from the beginning. Every time she found out that she wasn't pregnant, she would talk adoption, and somehow Rod would talk her into trying again."
"It's not either of your fault," Kate said taking one of his hands. "She did give up just before she found out she had nothing to give up."
"I really wanted to have more kids around. I loved having Mac, and I wish that Malcolm had made it. I would have loved to see them grow up together. "
Since they buried Malcolm, she had never heard Michael speak of him. She looked closely at her husband "You're still regretting the fact that you weren't there."
"I will always regret that," he said with a sigh before kissing her hand. "I pray that Mackenzie comes out of this one."
They stayed quiet for a few minutes, before Michael broke the silence again. "How'd he take it?"
"How do you think, Michael? He is totally blaming himself for this and hasn't left her side since he first found out about the stroke."
"Well, it is his fault," Michael muttered.
"Michael..." Kate rebuked him then smiled when she saw the familiar dimples appear on his cheeks.
"Well it is... How are the twins?"
Kate sighed. "Horace might not make it... though they put them together in the same incubator so that they wouldn't feel so isolated since Mac can't hold them."
"Have you seen them?"
"No... Let's go see our grandchildren," Kate said standing up.
Michael reached out to her and allowed her to lead him to where the kids were.
Rod watched as they checked his wife's reflexes.
"All four limbs are reacting, she may have full motility, if not immediately, in a few weeks. The stroke didn't affect her motor skills" Dr. Andrews, her internist, said.
Mac was still asleep. The only time he'd caught a glimpse of her brown eyes was when the doctor had checked her pupils. "So she'll be okay?"
"For the most part, this appears to have been a very mild stroke... But we'll have to see how her speech and language centers have been affected."
The doctor began to check other areas. As he pressed down on her abdomen, "Ahhh," escaped from Mac's lips.
"Hey hon, how are you feeling?" Rod asked leaning closer to her.
"The babies, how are the babies?" Was what she wanted to say but, "Ahhh..." was all that came out.
"Are you in pain?"
"I want to know how my children are?" Her frustrated expression shone through.
"Ms. Allen, listen to me... Your babies are in the Neonatal unit. You, on the other hand, have suffered a stroke. And apparently it has caused some damage to your language center... but I think that you will recover with a bit of therapy."
"A what?" Mac looked around to her husband and then to the doctor. She concentrated on what she wanted to say and was able to muster, "Ahh, ssstok?"
"Yes, Ms. Allen. But you can recover fully in time. I know you are tenacious."
"Seeeee, buh bes," Mac muttered
"Sure, I'll get someone to take you to them, okay?"
Mac sighed, glad that at least the doctor understood what she was saying. She looked at her husband, who looked both guilty and horrified.
"Lv ooh," she said softly.
"You have no idea how that makes me feel," Rod said kissing her hand. "I love you too, Mac."
She smiled, maybe she wasn't so bad after all. The aftermath of all of this was not going to end in tragedy... She had faith that God would see her through.
