Danny felt something tickling his nose and it wouldn't stop. He swatted at it but must have missed because it was still there. Finally, he opened one eye and spied what was tickling him. It was Maria's hand, and she was laughing! "I'm glad you can have so much fun torturing the father of your child." He reached up and captured her hand in his.

"Actually, I need to hit the bathroom, so would you mind finding the remote and hitting the call button, please? And you might want to get off the bed or you might regret it." She smiled at him as he moved as quickly as he could. The nurses came in and helped Maria with her normal morning activities. Danny dressed before they came in and was trying to find something of interest on the television. Finally, Maria was on her way back to bed and getting hooked up to the numerous sensors being used. There was a knock on the door and the doctor from last night was back.

"Good morning, Ms. Baez. I'm glad to see you awake and I hear you've been out of bed without any problems. How are you feeling today?"

"Pretty good, slept really well and I kind of like listening to the baby's heartbeat. I was able to shower so I'm feeling much better. Any idea what happened? Where did all that blood come from?"

"Actually, I've been thinking about this, and I think I may know what happened and why. But I've asked a colleague to come and prove me either right or wrong. She should be here in a few minutes. Just let me make a few notations on your chart." The doctor moved over to the computer workstation, logged on and proceeded to review several sections and added her notes to the chart. By this time, there was a knock on the door and another person came in.

"Excuse me, I'm Doctor Kerri Scribner." Hearing her colleague, Doctor Cooper looked up from the patient's chart.

"Kerri, it's so good to see you. This is my patient, Ms. Baez, early third trimester, primigravida pregnancy, admitted following a hemorrhage of unknown source. She was given a bolus of saline enroute to the ER following a loss of consciousness and by the time she was brought into the trauma bay, she was awake and alert times three. We did a preliminary scan and began to monitor mother and fetus but neither seemed to be experiencing the effects of what looked like a large volume blood loss. They have been monitored all night and nothing untoward has been noted. However, I believe I may know the source of the blood loss. Shall we take her to an examination room and see if I'm right?" They requested transport to an exam room and Maria was moved via stretcher. After positioning the patient Doctor Cooper began her normal obstetric examination. Finding everything as expected, she positioned the patient on her right side and called for Kerri to perform her examination.

Two hours later

After the examination and procedure performed by Doctor Scribner Maria was brought back to her hospital room. She was sleeping but did not seem to be in any distress. Doctor Cooper followed her patient and explained to Danny what they had found in the exam and what had been done so that this shouldn't happen again. Maria would need seventy-two hours to recuperate but then would be free to return to her duties. She would be discharged later that day. Danny called Maria's mother as well as his father and updated them with the news. Her issue was caused by a well-known issue that could occur during pregnancy. She had hemorrhoids but Doctor Scribner had reduced them and hopefully this situation would not recur. Apparently, the vessels had ruptured while Maria had been sitting at her desk and the blood had been pooling in her clothing. When she stood up, it all dribbled down her legs. A reason for her loss of consciousness had not been discovered but had also not been repeated.