BJ rushed to James and knew in an instant the baby was in trouble. Looking outside, he could see that the blizzard had let up; however getting the baby to a doctor would still be risky.
"I'm gonna see if I can borrow a car," he informed the worried mother who was now holding James as he struggled for each breath, while throwing on his jacket before rushing outside.
He quickly tried the door handles to the cars parked near their room, finally finding one open, he hotwired it and went back inside for the new family.
He helped Kristy out of bed and took off his jacket, wrapping the babies snugly inside. He grabbed the ice bucket as well, not knowing if the doctor would to examine the placenta. He carried the twins with Kristy holding firmly onto the crook of his elbow and they slowly made their way outside to the car.
They were soon on their way. The blizzard had made the roads treacherous, but BJ drove as fast as he dared. He remembered the clerk had said the doctor was on Old Mill Road and knew of a shortcut, but it was a rough road on a normal day, let alone just after a blizzard!
James was struggling for each breath, his breathing growing weaker by the second. The car swerved on an icy patch, but BJ quickly regained control of the car.
He glanced over at Kristy who had both babies secured tightly in her arms, wrapped in BJ's jacket. Her face was white as she stared down at her babies, as if taking her eyes off her tiny baby boy would surely cause him to die.
BJ pulled into the drive in front of the big white house that boasted a mailbox with Dr. Seymour Hanes on it in bright yellow letters.
"I'll take James on inside, then come back and help you," he told Kristy taking the baby gently but swiftly into his arms. He sheltered the baby with his jacket as he carefully made his way inside on the slippery sidewalk.
Kristy relaxed as he finally made it inside. She felt exhausted from the difficult birth and was chilled to the bone from the freezing temperatures. She huddled her baby closer for warmth and closed her eyes, suddenly feeling quite dizzy.
"Can somebody help me please?" BJ yelled as he entered the doctor's home, James' breathing had gone from bad to worse in just a matter of seconds since stepping out of the car.
A door opened and the doctor stepped out clad in his pajamas and bathrobe. "What happened?" he asked BJ running toward him as he saw the small bundle cradled in his arms and guided them into the nearest examining room.
"The mother's in my car outside, she just gave birth to twins a few hours ago, this one was breech and I had to give him mouth to mouth to get him breathing. He was fine after that, but about a half hour ago he started wheezing," he explained quickly laying the tiny baby on the examining bed.
"I'll take care of him," the doctor told BJ calmly, not looking up from the gasping baby boy, "you bring in the others. Wake my nurse first, second room on the right down the hall."
"Yeah, ok," BJ told him, backing out of the room, as if not wanting to take his eyes off the struggling baby.
He knocked on the door the doctor told him to yelling for the nurse until she opened the door. He explained the situation as quickly as possible knowing he shouldn't leave Kristy alone too long with the other newborn.
The nurse shut the door to her room, following BJ back to the room where he had left the doctor and James not moments before. He didn't go in with her, instead zipping up his jacket to prepare to go back outside.
He made his way out to the car, opening Kristy's door, staring in shock at the pool of blood now dripping down the seat, his gaze traveling up to her limp arms barely holding onto her baby, then onto her face which had turned a ghostly pale.
He felt for a pulse, sighing in relief when he picked up her faint heartbeat at his fingertips. He adjusted Joseph in her arms, so he could carry them both in at once, not wanting to leave Kristy any longer since she was obviously in shock from the loss of blood. He quickly carried his precious cargo inside, barging into the examining room where the doctor still worked over James. The nurse hurried to assist BJ, taking the baby from where he lay in Kristy's lap.
"Nurse, take this one into the other room, give him some oxygen and monitor his breathing," he instructed picking the baby up whose breathing had seemed to have gotten better and handing him off to the nurse. "Lay her down right here son," he said to BJ, removing his medical tools from the bed that he had used on the tiny newborn. He gently laid her down on the bed, while the doctor got fresh towels and other tools BJ had never seen before. "I might need your help," he told BJ who was now holding onto one of Kristy's limp hands with his own and stroking her forehead with the other. BJ nodded moving down to where the doctor now stood, putting Kristy's legs into the stirrups at the end of the bed. "Did the placenta come out?"
"Yeah," BJ replied.
"Did you bring it with you?" the doctor asked already working on putting an IV into Kristy.
"Yeah, I'll go get it," he replied already heading toward the door. He retrieved the ice bucket from the backseat, running back inside as fast as he could. The doctor had hooked up an IV with Pitocin to help stop the bleeding and was massaging her uterus when he made it back to the room.
"Take over here," Dr. Samuel told BJ; demonstrating what to do so that he could examine the placenta. He took over and the doctor waited, watching, then nodded his approval and moved away to examine the afterbirth.
"This is the problem," the doctor told him as he lifted it up to show BJ, "there's some still inside, causing the bleeding."
"So what happens now?" BJ asked still kneading Kristy's belly.
"I remove it," he answered going down to the end of the table and lifting up the sheet that now covered Kristy. He donned long rubber gloves to his elbows, reached in and pulled out the last remnants of the placenta. "There it is," he said to BJ holding up the last piece of it.
"Her stomach is getting hard," BJ told him, now really having to work at the massage.
"You can stop now, she'll be ok now son. You did good, getting your wife and babies here. They wouldn't have made it otherwise," he praised as he finished cleaning her up and checking her vitals.
"I'm not…uh…thanks," he finally managed. He didn't have the energy to explain everything that happened in the past 24 hours to this doctor right now.
"She'll probably be out for a few hours considering the amount of blood she lost. I've got a spare room if you want to catch up on some sleep. The nurse and I'll give the boys a checkup and their shots, just to make sure everything's ok." The doctor motioned for BJ to follow him after he finished with Kristy.
BJ looked at Kristy before leaving the room, feeling relief that her deathly pale face had slightly more color than when he first brought her in. He looked forward to leaving her in the doctor's capable hands while he finally caught up on some shut eye.