Chapter 4:
Mary-Claire was now 38 weeks pregnant and she only had two weeks left until she was due to give birth, She hadn't yet been forced onto maternity by Serena or any other members of staff probably because Guy Self had fired half of the nursing staff.
It wasn't a busy Monday morning on AAU they had their fair share of drunks and they all had been discharged so it was extremely silent on AAU. Mary-Claire loved it when it was quite as she could probably get away with sleeping at the nurses' station, Which was really easy to get away with because Serena doesn't work on Monday mornings only the evening.
Mary-Claire started to do her rounds after Serena arrived on the ward, Even though Serena wasn't a good friend of Mary-Claire's she still worried for her "Nurse Carter are you quite alright you look really pale? Is baby okay?" Mary-Claire nodded and carried with her rounds. Mary-Claire made her way over to her first Patient "Right Miss Jones or can I call you Natasha I am Nurse Carter but you can call me Mary-Claire alright?" Natasha smiled and said "Hello Mary-Claire I love you name it sounds amazing and you can call me Tasha" Mary-Claire smiled and carried on reading Tasha's notes.
"So Tasha can you tell me where the pain is ?" Natasha pointed towards her lower abdomen "Can I get Dr Tressler to come and check you over that is him over there" Mary-Claire pointed towards Harry who was talking to Colette, "He's not that bad looking if you ask me" Natasha spat out "Well he is the father of my baby!" Mary-Claire smiled at Natasha"...And you are only 16 come on he is nearly 30 he is way out of you league" Mary-Claire added, Natasha rolled her eyes and left Mary-Claire to get on with her examining.
Mary-Claire gave a sharp gasp as she felt a pain in the bottom of her back, She just rubbed it off thinking the baby was kicking the bottom of her back, Mary-Claire walked back over to the nursing station and held onto the cupboard as another sharp pain hit her Colette noticed Mary-Claire wincing in pain and went over to her "Hey MC are you alright?" Mary-Claire nodded and got her breath back "...Yeah I am AHHH" Mary-Claire was cut off by another pain in her back this caused Colette to worry.
"Mary-Claire I think you need to go down to Maternity I do think the baby wants to make an 2 week early appearance" Mary-Claire shrugged Colette off and walked (Waddled) over to the staff room.
20 minutes later Mary-Claire was still having bad pains in her back which seemed to be getting stronger she gave out another cry as the pain worsened "Argh, Please not now" Mary-Claire let against the sink in the staff room as she felt her trousers grow wet "Please not know I am in the middle of a shift"
Mary-Claire held onto the sink for another 10 minutes trying to compose herself to go and get help so she could got back down to maternity, Then the door flew open and Zosia stormed in followed by Arthur who slammed the door behind him causing Mary-Claire to jump, "Arthur why the hell did you say that in front of my Dad and Colette?" Arthur looked at Zosia and shrugged his shoulders "Why did..." Arthur cut himself short when he saw Mary-Claire double over again and give out a little moan
"Mary-Claire are you quite alright ? Zosh please can I have some help?" Arthur walked over to Mary-Claire noticing the puddle of water on the floor and knew that Mary-Claire had gone into labour, Zosia shot up out of her chair as Mary-Claire's legs buckle and she slivered down the wall onto the floor in pain.
"Please get me Harry..." Mary-Claire screamed at Arthur but was cut off by another pain which she had realised were know contractions, Zosia sits herself down beside Mary-Claire and held her hand while Arthur got up to go and find some help "Keep breathing" Zosia said in a calming voice "Urm...Zosia we might have a problem" Arthur spoke from the other side of the room, "The door is stuck!" Arthur added
Mary-Claire's contractions became stronger while Arthur tried to force the door open which was not working. Mary-Claire gripped Zosia's hand and said "Please get it out of me..." before another contraction came along.
Arthur rushed back down beside Mary-Claire and said "Right I have paged Harry and Colette as they should be on the ward know and I need to check you over Nurse Carter" Mary-Claire nodded as she wasn't willing to argue with anyone at the minute.
The Zosia's phone rang "Dad thank god it's you, we are stuck in the AAU staff room with Mary-Claire who is currently in the last stages of labour, Arthur is checking her over as we speak... Argh bloody hell Mary-Claire you nearly crushed my hand. Sorry about that Dad we need assistance ASAP"
Arthur looked at Zosia and indicated to her that she was in full induced labour and the baby was already crowing, "Right Mary-Claire when you get a contraction I need you to push as hard as you can and if it helps try and break Zosia's hand don't think she would need it" Mary-Claire forces a smile onto her face, Zosia begins to rub Mary-Claire back as she pants and pushes causing herself to scream, "You are nearly there" Arthur says as he supports the head and waits for the next contraction to come" Zosia keep telling Mary-Claire she is doing fine and tries to wipe the sweat off her face.
"We are trying to unjam the door Dr March and Dr Digby, how long left until she has fully given birth?" Colette called from behind the door. no one replied as Mary-Claire gave one last push and screamed right into Zosia's face cursing and swearing at her.
Arthur supports the baby and hold it in his arms and says "Here 'She' is got a right set of lungs on her like her mother" Mary-Claire looks at Arthur who was holding her screaming baby and says "Did you just say 'She'? Oh my life I have a girl" Arthur hands the baby over to Mary-Claire who had know got tears forming in her eyes "Oh she is perfect look at her" Zosia smiles at Mary-Claire as she begins to rub her hand which had finger nail prints indented into her wrist and palm of her hand.
Soon after Arthur delivers Mary-Claire's baby followed by the after birth; Colette comes flying through the door as she ran up to the door trying to unjam it followed Guy, Harry & Gemma who walk in laughing at Colette lying face down on the floor. Then they all see Mary-Claire on the floor with a baby wrapped up in Zosia's Holby hoodie, Harry runs over to Mary-Claire and says "I am so sorry I wasn't there, Oh my days is that our baby?" Mary-Claire nods and says "It's a girl Harry!" Harry smiles as he plants a kiss on Mary-Claire's head and admires their daughters features including the ginger hair which she had obviously got off Mary-Claire.
"Have you got a name for her" Colette asks as she hands Zosia another hoodie, Mary-Claire looks at Harry and says "I don't know what does she look like Harry?" Harry replies "It's down to you, Well you did go through labour to bring her here" Mary-Claire thinks for a moment and then says "What about Ellie-Grace?" then Harry suggests "What about just Ellie and Grace as her middle name as I don't think to people I have to spend the rest of my life with, with both double barrel names I will get confused So what about we call her Ellie?"
Mary-Claire agrees and says "So this is Ellie Grace Aimee Carter my beautiful daughter" Colette and Gemma congratulate them both and help Mary-Claire up and take her to maternity.
2 weeks later Mary-Claire had been out of hospital a week and was enjoying her maternity leave with Ellie who was coming on just perfectly, Today Harry had told her to meet her on AAU as they were going for a meal together so when she arrived she was met by Colette who was happy to see Mary-Claire and Ellie who was in her push chair fast asleep, Once Harry's shift had ended he got changed in the locker room and came out to Mary-Claire who was distracted by Colette and Gemma talking to her.
It was his best chance know to propose to her and probably his only chance. So he got down on one knee besides Mary-Claire and gave a little cough which made Mary-Claire turn around to see Harry down on one knee and he said "Mary-Claire since the day I met you I knew I really loved you and Since the day I found out you was expecting our first baby my love for you blossomed, I don't think I could picture a day in my future without you so Mary-Claire Carter will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me? " Mary-Claire smiled at Harry and said "Well.. Yes of course I will" Harry stood up and pulled Mary-Claire into a passionate kiss. Colette, Guy, Serena, Arthur, Zosia and the rest of the staff on AAU applauded Mary-Claire and Harry, Apart from Gemma who stared into space until Raf came over to her and said "What is up with you then Gem? you look like you have just seen the ghost of Maddy Young" Gemma smiled at Raf and said "Well I thought I would be the one Marrying Harry not MC oh well they look happy together especially with Ellie"