It has been six days since Matt got hurt saving a baby from a burning house. He has been in a coma to help the swelling to go down. Today is Matt's birthday and is also the day that Doctor Halstead would reduce the medication that is keeping him sedated.
Doctor Halstead came in to Matt's hospital room to check him and reduce the medication. The doctor looked at all of Matt's vitals and like what he saw.
Doctor Halstead looked at Gabriela and laughed, "You look like you are about to pop. How far along are you?"
Gabriela rolled her eyes and replied, "I am twenty-five weeks today. The doctors are wanting me to wait for another nine weeks. I really don't think that I can wait that long though."
Doctor Halstead laughed and said, "Do you know what you are having?"
Gabriela had a sad look on her face when she said, "I was going to wait until Matt's birthday to tell him and then this happened."
Doctor Halstead looked at Matt and then looked back at Gabriela and said, "I just lowered the medication that was keeping him sedated so it is up to him if he wakes up."
The next day Gabriela laid Matt's hand on her belly and said, "Matt, I wish that you were a wake to actually feel the movement right now."
Just then she felt Matt's hand twitch. Gabriela looked at her husband and said, "Baby come on open your eyes."
Matt still had his eyes closed but as soon as he felt a kick he smiled. Gabriela had tears in her eyes because he was waking up.
Matt just looked at Gabriela. She knew that he wanted to say something but couldn't considering he was still hooked up to a breathing tube.
Gabriela pushed the call button after about two minutes of Matt waking up. One of the nurses came in the room and saw that Matt was wake and said, "Welcome back, Lieutenant Casey." The nurse looked at Gabriela and said, "I will page Doctor Halstead."
Two hours later Doctor Halstead came walking in the hospital room and saw that Matt was wake so he said, "Welcome back, Matt."
He checked the Matt's vitals and then looked at Matt and said, "What would you say to take this tube out so that you could talk?"
Matt looked at Doctor Halstead and nodded his head yes. Doctor Halstead turns off the ventilator machine. This was to make sure that Matt could breathe on his own. When Halstead was confident that Matt was able to breathe on his own he removed the machine then the he removed the tube that was in Matt's mouth. Doctor Halstead then put an oxygen mask on him. Matt still could not talk though because his throat hurt where the tube was.
Two days later, Matt looked at Gabriela and asked her a question that has been bothering him, "How far along are you?"
Gabriela looked at Matt and was just glad that he was okay. She looked at the floor and said, "I am twenty-six weeks today.
Matt knew that there was a possibility that they could have multiples. What he wanted to know was the genders of the babies."
Matt looked at Gabriela and asked, "Do you know the genders of the babies?"
Gabriela had a sad look on her face and said, "That I what I was going to tell you on your birthday, but you got hurt."
Matt looked at Gabriela and said, "Baby, I am not going anywhere okay. I will be here to help take care of the babies."
Gabriela looked at Matt and said, "What would your reaction be if I told you that we are having two sets of identical twins."
Matt looked at Gabriela and said, "Okay now you're talking but what is the gender?"
Gabriela reached in her pocket and pulled out an ultrasound picture and said, "Here look for yourself."
Matt looked at the picture and back at Gabriela and asked, "Are you serious we are having two boys and two girls?"
Gabriela looked at Matt and nodded her head and said, "That is what I was going to tell you before you got hurt."
Just then Matt went to move his legs but they would not do what he wanted them to he started to panic. His heart rate started going up.
Gabriela looked at Matt and said, "Baby your need to try and calm down."
Matt looked at Gabriela and said, "How can I calm down. My legs will not move. I can't feel my legs something is wrong."
Just then Doctor Halstead and Doctor Rhodes both came in the room and saw Matt's heart sky rocking. Doctor Rhodes knew that this could happen.
Doctor Rhodes looked at Matt and said, "Matt, the first thing you need to do is calm down or we will not have an option but to sedate you."
Matt tried to do what the doctor told him to do. Finally after four minutes Matt's heart rate went back to normal. He looked at Doctor Rhodes and said, "Okay I am calm down now why can't I feel my legs?"
Doctor Rhodes looked at Matt and said, "When the beam fell it broke your collar bone and it partially cut you spinal cord. It also fractured your L2 through L5 vertebrates."
Matt just looked down at his legs and then back at the doctor and said, "Great, I am going to be a father and I won't even get to play with them if I am in a wheelchair. Also there goes my career of being a firefighter."
Gabriela knew that this was going to be his reaction. Gabriela looked at Matt and said, "Even though you are in a wheelchair you can still be a father to our children."
Matt looked at her and said, "Okay yeah I can be a father to our children but what about my job. How am I going to be a firefighter if I am in a wheelchair?"
Gabriela looked at matt and explained, "Baby, I am just thankful that you are alive. I almost lost you. The babies are coming in a few weeks and so right now that is what you should be focusing on getting better so that you are not stuck in the hospital when I am have the babies."
Matt knew that Gabriela was right that he needed to get better so that he could be there with her when the babies are born. They don't need both parents in the hospital.
Just then Chief Boden walked in the hospital room and said, "Welcome back to the land of the living, Casey. The whole house was wondering if we were going to have bury another firefighter."
Matt laughed and said, "Not a chance of that happening. The only thing that will be changing is that I will not return to the firehouse anytime soon. I just found out that I am paralyzed from the legs down. I had to have surgery on my collar bone to repair it."
Chief Boden looked at Matt and said, "Matthew Casey, I will not stand here and hear that you are giving up on you dream of being a firefighter just because you are paralyzed. We can always find something for you to do."
Matt looked at Gabriela and back at Chief Boden and said, "I really appreciate that, but I just found out that I am going to be a father of quadruplets. I think that they need a father that will be there to take care of them."
Gabriela looked at Matt and said, "Matt, listen carefully. I already knew about your condition so I talked to Boden and we came up with a conclusion to how you can still work at the firehouse."
Matt was really confused and Chief Boden and Gabriela could see the wheels turning so Gabriela explained, "What we came up with is that when there is a school programs that you can be the one to go. I will make sure that you can get there and get back to the house."
Matt looked at Gabriela and said, "This means a lot but what about the children. What will happen when there is a school programs."