Chapter nine

8 weeks later- July 25th 2012

38 weeks and 1 day pregnant

It was late when Jo lays awake in the queen bed of the spare bedroom of Alex's house. She knew that It wasn't the best idea for her to stay at Alex's house, but the option had appealed to her much more then living in her car once more. She had applied for and received the hospital housing grant and had even found a few places that she liked but still had to save enough money for the rental bond, so for the meantime it was Alex's house or nothing.

She looks over at the baby furniture piled up in her room. The crib and dresser wasn't built yet, the bouncer wasn't out of the box and nothing had been organised. Nesting was something Jo was told would happen when she reached the later stages in her pregnancy.

She was hooping that it would kick in any day now so that she could begin to prepare for the baby. There was only so many more days Jo could go before she would have to start to force herself to start preparing, and that wasn't something she was willing to do.

Jo was tossing and turning, attempting to find a comfortable position to spend the night. It was a feet that seemed almost impossible with her baby bump constantly in the way. All she wanted was a decent night rest so she could muster up the energy to preform the basic daily tasks that were pertinent to her survival.

Upon feeling a trickle running down her legs and a sharp pain in her abdomen, Jo flings up in the bed. She turns on the light and lifts up the sheets. She notices a wet patch on the bed's fitted sheets.

"Oh god," she mutters to herself. She begins to panic. She wasn't ready to have a baby and She wasn't even at her due date yet. That was still two weeks away.

"Alex," Jo calls out. With no response she waits a few more moments before calling him once again, "Alex... Alex..." She calls out. "Alexander Karev!" She shouts. The panic was growing in her voice.

Alex hears Jo's cries and rushes into her room, "what's going on? Are you okay?" He asks as he stands in the doorway of the guest room.

Jo shakes her head, "My... My... I think my Water broke," she says as she looks down at the wet patch on the bed.

"Okay Jo, this is good. You're going to meet your little girl. We need to get you to the hospital," he says.

"It's not possible right? I'm only 38 weeks. It's too soon, the baby isn't ready and I am not ready," Jo says shaking her head.

"38 weeks is considered full term, it's perfectly safe for you to deliver now. And I know that you might not be ready to meet your baby, but your baby is ready to meet you Have you had any pain?" He asks as he walks over to her.

Jo nods her head, "Yes, when I felt a trickle coming down my legs."

"Let's get you to the hospital," he says. He takes Jo's hand and guides her out of the bed and to the front door. He grabs their wallets and car keys from the hallway table and helps Jo to the car.

Jo crouches over, "Ow," she winces in pain as she grips her stomach. Alex rubs her back and the contraction passes. Once it passes he helps her into the car and they head of to the hospital luckily it was only a 10 minute drive, but it was a 10 minute drive that was sure to feel like hours.

10 minutes and 5 more contractions later they reach the hospital. Alex rushes over to the passenger door and opens it for Jo. Arizona rushes over with the wheelchair. Alex had paged Arizona on the way to the hospital to ensure that everybody was prepared for Jo's arrival.

"Get me in the wheelchair!" Jo orders while clenching her jaw. She practices breathing deeply. Arizona nods her head and she and Alex assist Jo into the wheelchair.

"Where is Steph? Where is Jenna?" Jo asks sternly.

"They are on their way to the hospital," Arizona replies.

Scene break

Ten minutes later Jo was hooked up to monitors and was up in the OB ward. Sitting by her side was Alex while Arizona was taking her blood pressure. Sitting on the lounge on the right side of the room was Steph and Jenna, who were instructed by Arizona to sit and stay out of the way.

"You're not the father, you don't have to be here," Jo says as she looks at him.

"I want to be here," Alex replies. He grabs her hand and gives Jo a reassuring smile.

Jenna and Steph look at each other, "oh, please," Jenna laughs.

"Karev, can I talk to you outside?" Arizona asks upon noticing the exchange.

Alex nods his head, "Sure."

The pair walk outside Jo room. "You're getting attached Karev," Arizona states blankly.

"I am not," Alex replies quickly. He shakes his head.

Arizona sighs, "You are getting attached to her Karev, and I'm telling you now, it's not a good idea. She's about to have a baby. Her whole life is going to change, and the last thing she needs to complicate things is somebody having feelings for her. She is anxious enough as it is about having a baby," Arizona warns sternly.

"I know how she feels about having a baby. I'm not going to go and screw with her head," Alex replies annoyed. Over their conversation they could hear Jo's screams.

"You are either in there as her friend, or as her doctor Karev, you can't be both," Arizona says sternly before she walks back into her room. She is followed by Alex and a nurse who was going to assist Arizona.

Steph and Jenna were now on either side of Jo's bed and were each holding one of her hands.

"You're doing great. Remember to breathe," Alex says supportively.

"Do you think I'm going to forget to breathe!" She snaps back.

"You're doing great. Deep and shallow breaths," Arizona coaches. Nurse Jane picks up Jo's chart and begins to note down her vitals.

"Your voice sounds like a quacking mouse! And mouses don't quack!" She snaps at her. Jo breaths deeply as her contraction passes. She looks up at everybody in the room. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. That was really mean," she says helplessly.

"It's okay. I've heard it all before," Arizona replies.

"I'm not ready. And I know that I haven't been prepared this entire pregnancy, but I'm really, really, really not prepared to have this baby right now. Nothing is set up. The crib is still in the box. I don't what what the hell it is that I'm doing and this baby isn't fully cooked yet," Jo pleads.

"I know that this all seems to much right now..." Arizona begins before being cut off by Jo's scream as she has a contraction.

"I want drugs. And I don't mean the pussy drugs. I mean the good drugs. I need all of the good drugs that you can give me!" Jo screams as she breaths through the contraction.

Arizona hears some beeping coming from the baby's monitor and notice's that the baby girl's stats were dropping.

"Okay Jo, I don't want you to freak out, but it may be too late for you to get pain medication, Your contractions are two minutes apart, and the baby's stats are low. I'm going to check your cervix," Arizona says calmly.

Jo nods her head quickly and Arizona begins to check Jo. As she does she discovers that the baby's cord was wrapped around her neck.

"Jane, I need you to call up to an OR and have them prep for an Emergency C section," Arizona says quietly. Jane nods her head and heads over to the hospital phone that was on the wall.

"An OR, what is going on?" Jo asks panicking. Arizona glances at Jo's monitor and see's that Jo's BP was getting higher.

"Jo, take some deep breaths," Alex and Arizona coach.

"What's going on?" Steph asks.

"Jo, your daughters cord is wrapped around her neck and she's struggling to get enough oxygen. We need to do a C section," Arizona explains.

Once Jo was prepped, with the aide of two nurses and a resident Arizona wheel's Jo down to the OR. Within moments Jo had been put to sleep and had delivered a healthy baby girl and her screams filled the room.

Baby Stadler

5 pounds

28th of July 2012, 3:28am