Hurting - part 2
Owen winced as April wrapped his wrist in a bandage. It was sprained, and there were a few bruises and abrasions, but thankfully the xrays showed that his wrist wasn't broken.
They were both in the currently unoccupied trauma room 4.
'Care to tell me what happened exactly?' April asked, intrigued.
' I fell down the stairs.' Owen lied. ' I was looking at my phone when walking down the stairs- bad move on my part.'
April wasn't convinced by Owen's story. She had been working with Owen long enough to detect when he was lying. The guilty look on his face gave it away.
She didn't want to pry though- so she played along with the lie.
' Oh? Did you hurt yourself anywhere else?' she asked.
' No. Only the wrist.' Owen replied.
' You sure?'
' Yes'
' Well- if you say so.' April conceded as she finished bandaging Owen's wrist.
Owen didn't reply, pretending to seem interested in the tiles of the trauma room floor, which were still stained with the blood from the previous patient who occupied the room.
' You need to rest your wrist.' she said. ' You can take the rest of the day off, Hunt, I've got this.'
April walked out of the trauma room, leaving Owen alone in the room, sitting on the bed with his hands covering his face.
Just then, the ER doors burst open and two paramedics entered with a patient trolley in tow. A flustered looking Stephanie Edwards followed closely behind.
April rushed over to them.
'Edwards- what happened?' April asked concerned, once she reached the trolley. ' What's the case?'
Stephanie didn't need to utter a word. April gasped as she recognized who the patient on the trolley was.
' Shepherd' she whispered in shock. ' What happened to her?' she asked Stephanie.
'' She fainted. I found her unconsious on the bathroom floor.' Stephanie replied in a shaky voice. 'She still has a pulse but it's weak. .I dunno what happened exactly. She was fine this morning.'
' Ok, let's get her on a bed and hook her up to a monitor and an IV drip and run some blood tests.' said April- her trauma surgeon mode taking over. She then brushed Amelia's hair to one side to check for any laceration wounds on the forehead or other signs of head injury.
' There are no signs external or internal head injury though.' April said to herself as her examination revealed that Amelia's pupils were equal and reactive.
A few nurses and interns came to her aid as they transferred Amelia to an ER bed and hooked her up to the monitors.
' Kepner, what do we have here?' Owen had noticed the group of doctors gathered around Amelia's bed when he came out of the trauma room, and decided to check it out.
April and Stephanie exchanged glances as they saw Owen approaching the bed. In the hustle of the moment, they had forgotten about him.
' Owen' said April softly as she placed a hand on his shoulder. ' I don't want you to be shocked. It's Amelia.. She fainted'
Owen's facial expression abruptly changed to that of concern as he pushed past April and a few interns to get to Amelia's bedside. All the initial plans he had to be mad at her were gone.
' Amelia!' he exclaimed as he cupped her face in his hands. She looked so lifeless, a pale shadow of her normally lively self.
' Amelia, babe, wake up!' Owen pleaded, as he held her hands tightly in his own. Although one glance at her bedside monitors showed that her vitals were stable, he couldn't help but feel for her carotid pulse and breathe a sigh of relief when he felt it.
April stood at the other side of Amelia's bed, feeling sorry for Owen. He looked very crestfallen and worried. But she had a job to do.
' Owen- I'm going to set an IV drip for her, and I can't do that when you're holding both of her hands.' said April gently but firmly.
Owen finally let go of Amelia's left hand to allow April to insert the cannula into her vein. Gripping his wife's right hand tightly, he winced as he saw the cannula needle being inserted and blood being collected from her vein.
Stephanie excused herself to go to check on her patients, seeing as there were so many people already attending to Amelia.
' Dr. Kepner, do update me on how she is.' she whispered to April, who nodded, before she left.
' Hmm….she's isn't hypoglycaemic.' April told Owen, as she saw the reading on the blood sugar machine, while an intern rushed Amelia's bloods to the lab. ' Has this ever happened before? The fainting spells?' she asked, looking at her distraught colleague.
' No….never.' Owen shook his head.
' We'll wait for the lab results to see if she has anaemia or electrolyte imbalance' April said. ' Does she have any heart conditions?'
' Not that I know of.' Owen answered, still not letting go of Amelia's hand.
' Well- we'll have to wait for the lab results' said April.
' Hold on a minute.' Owen said, perking up as he thought he saw Amelia's eyes flicker open for a split second before closing again.
'Amelia?' he whispered.
This time, her right hand moved and she opened her eyes.
She looked from Owen to April, both bent over her, concerned expressions on their faces.
' Where am I?' she croaked. The entire room was still spinning and she still felt the cramping sensation on her lower abdomen.
' Amelia.' Owen repeated, relieved to see his wife awake. 'You're in the ER. What happened?'
Amelia groaned as she felt another cramp on her lower abdomen.
' I blacked out in the bathroom. My stomach hurts.' she whispered softly.
' Your stomach hurts?' April was always quick to pick up on patient's symptoms, due her training in emergency and trauma.
Amelia nodded. Meanwhile Owen remained silent on the other side of her bed, squeezing her hand.
' Which part?' she asked, her trauma surgeon mode taking over as she palpated Amelia's abdomen.
'Lower part' said Amelia wincing as April's hand reached her lower abdomen.
'I'll get a portable ultrasound' said April as she exchanged worried glances with Owen. ' I'll be right back.' she said as she gave Amelia's hand a squeeze.
The atmosphere surrounding Amelia's bed was tense as the couple were left alone together for the first time in past couple of weeks. Neither uttered a word as Owen remained by Amelia's bedside, holding her right hand.
' I'm sorry, Owen.' Amelia whispered softly, as tears started pooling in her eyes. ' I know you're worried. I'm so sorry. I was about to come here to the hospital to explain everything to you.'
Owen remained silent for a moment. The truth be told, he was still mad and upset at his wife for leaving him like that without a proper explanation. He was still confused by her actions, and he really didn't know where he went wrong. But right now, she was ill and in pain, and she needed him. He'll wait for her explanation later, all he wanted now was for his wife to be okay.
Amelia winced again and Owen felt a stab at his heart seeing his wife in pain.
' It's ok, you just rest.' he answered, as he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. ' I just want to make sure that you're ok.'
Just then, the curtains were drawn, and April returned with the portable ultrasound machine.
' Amelia- we'll get you checked ok?' she said as she smiled reassuringly at the neurosurgeon.
Amelia nodded as she winced again. She had no idea what caused the pain which had been bugging her for the past couple of days- she needed to find out.
' This will feel a little cold' April warned as she squeezed the gel on Amelia's lower abdomen and began manuvering the probe around the area.
Owen meanwhile, sat silently on the other side of Amelia's bed, still holding her hand. His eyes were transfixed on the ultrasound screen . He was not the religious type who prayed, but he was hoping that there wasn't anything seriously wrong with Amelia.
He froze as he saw the image on the screen. Although he wasn't trained in Obstetrics scanning, he knew exactly what it was. April also spotted it as she zoomed into the image to show what was unmistakably an embryo properly implanted in the uterus.
' Wow congrats you guys!' April said cheerfully as she proceeded to measure the crown rump length. ' This is good news indeed!' she added, turning to smile at the couple.
Her smile faded when she noticed both Owen and Amelia's facial expressions. Amelia's mirrored that of total shock and disbelief. Owen's was also that of shock, coupled with a tinge of joy which he seemed to be trying to hide.
April cleared her throat, noticing the tense atmosphere between the couple.
' According to the crown rump length, you're 7 weeks along, Amelia' she said. ' When is your LMP?'
' 2 months ago.' Amelia replied softly as she looked away from the screen.
Meanwhile, Owen continued staring at the screen, a small smile forming on his face.
' Ermm….I need to check the heartbeat…to see that everything is ok, because you said you're having cramps.' said April, noticing the couple's conflicting reactions. ' Did you experience any spotting?'
Amelia shook her head.
April zoomed further into the image, and pressed and adjusted the HR button. Soon, the steady sound of the fetal heartbeat filled the entire cubicle.
Owen's heart leapt with joy at the sight of his baby. He couldn't believe his eyes, it was his baby he was looking at. He had always wanted to be a father, it was his lifelong dream. And now he was indeed going to be a father. But this was not the way he intended to find out. Not under these circumstances. A couple of weeks ago- his heart skipped a beat when he spotted the pregnancy test on the table. He could barely control his excitement while waiting for the test result, and his heart sank when he saw the negative result. But it might have been taken too early after all.
His joy was shortlived though as he saw Amelia's facial expression. She looked pale- he didn't know whether it was due to the shock of the news or the fact that she hadn't fully recovered from her syncopal attack. She had this terrified expression on her face, which broke his heart. She clearly didn't share his excitement about the fact that they were going to be parents, and it somehow dulled his excitement.
' I'll give you both some privacy.' April offered kindly. ' I need to page Arizona to confirm the ultrasound findings and to book you for further antenatal checkup. I'm going to trace your blood results too. Were you vomiting a lot lately?'
'Yes, every morning for the past couple of days.' Amelia replied weakly. ' I think they've subsided slightly now.'
' Oh the cramps might be due to due dehydration. But I'll page Arizona to check on you.' said April, smiling at Amelia.
She drew the curtains behind her as she left, leaving Owen and Amelia alone in the ER cubicle again.
Owen struggled to find the right words to say to Amelia. He knew that she didn't share in his joy and excitement over the news. And he wanted to know why. They were so many questions he wanted to ask her- why she suddenly changed her mind about having babies, why she had to run away from him like that- when he had been nothing but nice and caring towards her. But now didn't seem to be a good time as she seemed rather upset.
' Amelia, talk to me.' he said. ' Tell me why are you so afraid to have a baby when you agreed to not wait for babies just 2 weeks ago? I just want to know what made you change your mind? I promise I wouldn't judge you, I just need to know.'
Amelia swallowed thickly. She knew that Owen had been such a wonderful husband to her and he deserved an explanation.
But she was just feeling so tired and overwhelmed at the moment. She needed time to process the fact that she was indeed pregnant.
Damn- she was going to have another anencephalic baby. How was she going to cope?
Tears pooled in her eyes as she looked up at her husband and shook her head.
' I'm sorry Owen.' she said , her voice shaky. ' I want to be happy about this- I really do. But I can't.'
' Why not?' Owen genuinely wanted to know.
He didn't get an answer as tears started rolling down Amelia's cheeks and she started sobbing.
Owen felt so helpless, it hurt him to see his wife in pain, and he badly wanted to help her. The problem was- he didn't know how- not when he didn't know what was going through her mind at that moment.
So he did the only thing he knew- he held her tight to his chest until her sobs subsided.
Ok guys- so this is it. Again, sorry for the long wait- I hope you liked it! Any comments, reviews, and messages are very much appreciated :) I would really love to hear from you! Do let me know what you think ;)