Disclaimer: Doc Martin is the property of Buffalo Pictures. I own nothing except my imagination.
It's not what you know... Chapter 21
As they walked towards the hospital from the car park, Louisa slipped her hand into Martin's. They hadn't talked much on the journey over, both lost in their own thoughts for now. They'd agreed not to discuss all the possible problems that could be found during the scan. If anything was found, they would talk about it then, they decided that there was no point in worrying themselves unnecessarily. Louisa loved the feel of Martin's big, strong hand, it felt so secure and comforting. She took a big breath to calm her nerves, and felt a reassuring squeeze back from his hand. She smiled up at him, trying to gauge his feelings but as usual his face was a closed book. However, he didn't let go of her hand but instead tightened his grip on her much smaller hand.
As they walked into the hospital, the familiar antiseptic smell hit them. Louisa wrinkled her nose up in disgust, she didn't like hospitals very much at all. Martin, on the other hand, seemed to revel in it, throwing his shoulders back and enjoying the familiar environment.
Walking up to the reception desk at the antenatal clinic, memories flooded back to Louisa of her previous visits to this very clinic. Sitting waiting for ages by herself to hear her name. Jumping when she finally heard 'LouisaGlasson' called out. Edith saying 'no,hewon'tcooperate' about Martin. Worrying when it seemed that they had found something wrong with her baby on the scan. Watching other couples excited reactions to their scan- together. She shook herself to get rid of those memories, and announced to the woman at the desk.
"Louisa Ellingham... Mrs... Mrs Louisa Ellingham." She still found it strange to call herself by that name. In her mind she was still Miss Louisa Glasson, but she had her husband, all 6' 3" of him, standing next to her to remind her of his existence. He remained silent for now, just glancing round impatiently, never liking being kept waiting, or any hint of inefficiency from admin staff.
"Ah yes, Mrs Ellingham, I'll just let Mr Stewart's secretary know you're here," the receptionist said as she picked up her phone and made a quick call. Very soon an efficient looking middle aged lady appeared and escorted them to a plush office to wait. Louisa was surprised, having expected to join the hoards in the main waiting area.
"Mr Stewart won't be long, he's on his way, can I get you a tea or coffee?" she enquired. When they both declined, she left them alone in the office to wait.
"How come I'm getting to see the consultant, are they expecting me to have problems or something, is it because I'm 'geriatric'?" Louisa asked Martin in a loud whisper.
Before Martin could answer, the door opened and Charles Stewart the consultant walked in.
xXx
Chris Parsons had called in to see Charles Stewart one morning, and had mentioned to him about Martin Ellingham's wife being booked in for antenatal care for her pregnancy and how he had recommended that she be booked under his care.
"Ah yes, Martin Ellingham, the vascular surgeon, now doing great things at his surgery – that's the one isn't it? Sure, I'd be glad to undertake his wife's care, be interested to meet him too. Leave it with me, I'll take make the arrangements this end," Charles had assured Chris.
"I'd appreciate that, Louisa was caused unnecessary worry during her previous pregnancy due to a very insensitive consultant at this hospital," Chris told him raising his eyebrows - he didn't name any names, but Charles knew immediately who he was talking about.
"Right, I see, well I will do my utmost to ensure that won't be the case this time," he replied.
Charles Stewart was a meticulous and extremely thorough consultant, he hadn't built up his excellent reputation without good reason. He took the time to read through all of the notes in Louisa's hospital file before her appointment, and was not at all impressed by what he found.
'VerylittleinformationreceivedfromtheLondonhospitalwhereshehadherinitialbookingand12weekscan.Verybasicscanundertakenbythem.Hardlyanyinformationabouthercareatthishospital,scanat24weekscompletelymisinterpreted,nobloodtestsdonetomonitorforanaemia – verypoorshow.Wellthingswon'tbelikethatthistimearound'he decided.
xXx
Louisa was pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the man who walked into the room and greeted them. He was a rather good looking man of around the same age as Martin, but much shorter, with dark hair now heavily flecked with grey, wearing a beautifully cut suit which looked as if it could have come from the same tailor that Martin used.
"Ah Louisa, pleased to meet you, and Martin too," he said as he shook both their hands. "Now I understand that there were some issues regarding effective communication during your previous pregnancy, so I want to reassure you that there will be no such problems this time around. I will explain everything to you as fully as I can and if anything remains unclear you must feel free to ask me to elaborate," he explained.
Charles had a very easy, open manner which put his patients at ease, and Louisa felt some of her tension lift, she always came to hospital expecting to have to fight to find out what was happening. The London hospital clinic that she had initially attended had been the most impersonal, soul destroying place that she had ever had the misfortune to visit in her opinion, and then to have had to deal with Edith and her intimidating manner here at the hospital in Truro had been another blow.
"Right, OK Mr Stewart, that's good to hear," Louisa smiled at him.
Martin thought to himself 'Certainlyhasagoodbedsidemanner,let'shopethathe'sasgoodinallareas'but he didn't make any comment as yet.
"Right, well, first things first, how have you been feeling?" he asked Louisa.
"Fine, just a bit tired and feeling sick rather a lot," Louisa replied.
"Only to be expected at this stage as I'm sure Martin has explained to you, shows a good healthy level of hormones. Hopefully the sickness should pass pretty soon now, the second trimester is usually much more pleasant and enjoyable, as I expect you found in your first pregnancy," Charles told her.
"Yes, I suppose so." Louisa didn't want to explain that she had been so worried and tired throughout all of her first pregnancy that there hadn't really been any time that she'd felt good.
"Well, I'd just like to do a few preliminary checks myself before you do all the routine checks and form filling with the midwife and then we'll get cracking with your scan," Charles told her as he checked her blood pressure and listened to her heart.
Then he asked her,
"Would you mind lying on the couch and letting me check your tummy now Louisa?" He indicated the couch, and Louisa did as asked. He gently placed his hand just above her pubic bone and said,
"Ah yes, I can just feel the beginnings of your bump, which is consistent with your dates. Right, I'll just take you through to the midwife, once she's finished with you, she'll take you through for your scan. See you in a minute."
All this confirmed what Martin already knew, having checked Louisa himself, he too had felt her uterus starting to rise above her pelvis. He appreciated the fact that Charles was being very thorough and starting from the beginning with all his checks, making no assumptions that could lead to something being missed.
The midwife completed all the necessary paperwork, weighed and measured Louisa, checked her urine sample and took some blood – Martin had already sent off some bloods as part of her initial checks. Louisa wasn't thrilled with having more needles stuck in her but accepted that the checks were necessary.
Finally they went through to the room to have the scan done. By now Louisa was feeling a bit uncomfortable as her bladder needed to be full to get the clearest results from the scan.
Louisa lay on the bed and gripped Martin's hand as he sat on a chair by the bed, both turning to watch the screen. Charles put some cold gel on her tummy, then started moving the transducer, watching intently as the scanning started. Martin gripped Louisa's hand back, but his eyes were also glued to the screen as the image came up.
And there it was. Their baby. Its heart was beating. It was moving around. It was real. Louisa looked at Martin and saw that his face had softened, and he was blinking and swallowing hard. She smiled happily at him and squeezed his hand, thrilled to finally see the baby she was carrying.
"Does everything look alright?" she asked anxiously as Charles concentrated hard on the image on the screen
"Everything looks fine so far Louisa – just one baby, that's the first thing to confirm," Charles reassured her. "I've just checked the Nuchal translucency at the back of baby's neck and that looks perfectly normal, and I can see the nasal bone, so that's a good sign." These were important checks for Down's syndrome that Louisa had been worried about due to the increased risk with her age.
"Crown Rump length is 5.8cm which is a good size for dates, puts the date of conception as 29th July. Does that sound about right to you?" Charles asked them.
"Yes that is consistent with the facts," Martin answered briefly. Conception could have been any night that week, he knew from his trusty spreadsheet. It had been a very pleasurable week, baby making was a lot of fun, he remembered with a smile.
"Heart looks normal, heart beat is around 130 per minutes, well within the normal range," Charles informed them. "Biparetal diameter and femur length also consistent with dates and in normal range. That's the head size and leg length," Charles explained to Louisa. He continued methodically with all the checks of the baby's anatomy, finally telling them,
"Everything looks perfectly normal and as it should be at this stage. You are 12 weeks and 1 day pregnant, and your estimated delivery date is confirmed as 21st April," Charles said. He printed out some pictures of the scan for them to take away.
Martin was struggling to control his emotions as he looked at the screen, at the new life that they had made together that was now developing perfectly, so he said very little. But Louisa knew by looking into his eyes how deeply moved he felt, and didn't mind that he wasn't saying anything for now – that was Martin after all. She squeezed his hand again, and embarrassed him a little by pulling him to her and kissing him before becoming tearful and burying her head in his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I'm just so relieved and so happy," she apologised to Charles.
"No apologies needed, that's just how you should feel. When you're ready, come through to my office, I'll clarify any queries for you and run through what happens next, OK?" he told her as he disappeared to write up his notes while she cleared the gel from her tummy and sorted out her clothes.
Martin helped Louisa to get down from the bed, and gave her a little hug as he did so, but still didn't say anything as they went into Charles's office and sat down.
"So, all good news for you, thus far. We've also had the blood test results through from the sample Martin forwarded previously, and those results combined with the scan give no indication of any chromosomal abnormalities. I see no need for any invasive tests at this stage which are sometimes recommended for pregnant women of your age Louisa. Would you agree Martin?" Charles turned to Martin for his response.
"I agree, there would appear to be no need to undertake such procedures," Martin concurred. He'd been very impressed by the thoroughness of the scan that Charles had performed, he'd checked everything that it was possible to check. Louisa couldn't have had any better care if she had paid to go privately he knew. Chris had been right to recommend the man.
"So if everything is normal for this stage, what could show up in the future that you can't see now?" Louisa worried.
"Sometimes the baby doesn't continue to grow and develop as expected, that's why we do another detailed scan at around 20 weeks, an anomaly check it's sometimes called. It's usually after this scan that I discuss birthing options as by then we have a better idea of any other factors that might influence your choices. Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much at this stage Louisa, the scan of your baby was about as normal and healthy as it's possible to be at this stage. But in view of your history of anaemia and fainting, I would like to keep quite a close eye on you, so I'll book you in for a check up with me next month. In the meantime don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any concerns, although I'm certain that Martin will be able to answer any questions for you in any case. Seems to be taking excellent care of you so far anyhow."
He shook both their hands as they got up to leave. Louisa left the room before Martin as she needed to go to the loo very urgently now, so Martin took the chance to have a quiet word with Charles Stewart.
"Louisa has been very worried because of her age and possible chromosomal defects with the baby however much I've tried to reassure her, so I appreciate your thoroughness, and also the fact that you are going to closely monitor her. I warn you that she can be very stubborn and independent, and tends to overdo things - she has a very demanding job as a Head Teacher. However, I have a feeling that she will listen to you if you advise her to take things easy, tells me not to fuss if I try," Martin confided in Charles.
As Louisa's husband this time round he was entitled to express his opinion and be involved and it felt very good to him. He'd been very frustrated during Louisa's previous pregnancy at not being allowed to intervene at all. There had been times when he'd felt like nothing more than a sperm donor whose services were no longer required.
"Between us both I think that we can ensure that she continues in excellent health," Charles agreed. "Give me a call anytime if you have any concerns that you think I should be aware of."
Charles knew of Martin's reputation as a gruff man of little words, and that had been the case today, but he noted that he had been very emotional during the scan, and that he was very protective towards his younger, beautiful wife. He also appreciated the professional respect that Martin had shown him and decided that he rather liked the man. Chris Parsons had certainly spoken very highly of him, of both of them actually, they were obviously good friends. He had enjoyed doing the scan today, he didn't get to do them very often these days. He'd seen the surprised look on both the midwife's face and also the sonographer when he'd said that he wanted this patient fast tracked through and that he was doing the scan himself. Well there had to be some perks to being a doctor's wife after all.
xXx
As they walked out of the hospital together, Louisa turned to Martin, smiling broadly and slipping her arm through his.
"We really are having a baby, aren't we?" she said squeezing his arm.
"Certainly seems that way," Martin agreed, smiling himself. He was very happy indeed with how things had gone, and was particularly reassured by the fact that Charles Stewart was going to keep a close eye on Louisa, just as he wanted. He made a mental note to thank Chris for recommending the man and putting in a word with him.
"How come I got the V.I.P. treatment then, have you been pulling strings Martin?" Louisa asked him. She felt uncomfortable with the thought of being treated differently from everyone else.
"No, I merely asked Chris to recommend the best consultant, which he did, and he may have mentioned to Charles that you received less than satisfactory care for your first pregnancy." Martin stated.
"So you and Chris did pull strings then. I'm not sure if I feel comfortable about that," Louisa told him, which wasn't strictly true, she had been very reassured by Charles Stewart. He certainly hadn't told her to 'stoptalking' when she'd asked if everything was alright, unlike Edith.
"Look Louisa, when the day comes that Luke moves on from your school, no doubt you will consult with the staff at the new school to ensure that he gets the best education, won't you?" Martin asked her.
"Well, I suppose so," Louisa agreed.
"Well this is the same thing, isn't it? Making sure that you and the baby receive the best possible care, that's all that Chris and I are doing. Would you rather be at the back of the queue, not sure what's going on, dealing with some junior doctor who doesn't know his arse from his elbow, or some arrogant consultant who can't be bothered to explain anything, worrying yourself silly?" Martin asked her.
That was pretty much what had happened last time round, and Louisa knew that she would be a hypocrite if she said she would prefer that.
"No, I suppose I wouldn't. And Mr Stewart seems really nice, doesn't he Martin? He definitely put me at my ease, I can't tell you how nervous I was," she now confessed.
"I think I have some idea," Martin had been just as nervous as Louisa even if he didn't show it. "And yes, he seems reasonably adequate."
"Don't forget to phone Joan, she'll be wondering how we got on, we've been much longer than I expected because he went into such detail. My scan last time only took a few minutes, I spent more time waiting to go in than having the actual scan," Louisa said to him as they reached his car.
Martin phoned Joan as they sat in the car before they drove off. They'd arranged that she would pick Luke up from nursery and bring him back to their house to look after him so that they didn't have to worry about being back in time.
"Auntie Joan, it's me," Martin said when she picked up the phone at their house.
"Well, how did it go, is everything alright?" she asked anxiously. She'd been waiting for their call for what seemed like ages, and she'd begun to get worried that something was amiss. Luckily Luke had kept her pretty occupied to take her mind off the wait, he'd been delighted to have his Grannie with him who gave him her full undivided attention and played with him all the time. Luke had a very special bond with Joan.
"Yes everything is fine, all went well, we'll fill you in when we get back, but no problems at this stage," Martin told her.
"Oh, thank goodness for that, that's wonderful, you must both be so relieved," Joan told him, hugging herself happily. "Would you like me to get supper ready for you for when you get back, or are you going to go out somewhere and celebrate?" Joan offered.
"Umm, I'm not sure, I'll just ask." Martin turned to Louisa and explained Joan's offer to her.
"Let's go out and celebrate, we haven't been out for ages, we can go to the pub for a change," Louisa replied.
"We'll eat out, if you're sure you'll be OK with Luke," Martin told Joan.
"That's fine. Luke and I will have a nice time just the two of us, you go ahead and have a nice time together," Joan happily agreed.
"OK, see you later then," Martin told her, ending the call and starting his car.
They'd been driving for a little while when Louisa said,
"Actually I'm starving now you've mentioned food, I couldn't eat much at lunchtime, I was too nervous, so can we stop off to eat somewhere on the way back pretty soon Martin, would you mind?"
"You should have said while we were in Truro, I'm not sure where we can stop now on the way back that does food," Martin said.
"Actually I think that the next nearest place is 'The Coach and Four' – you know, where Luke made his unplanned arrival," Louisa told him. They'd never been back to the place since that day.
"You really want to go there? I'd have thought... anyway, I'm not sure that they serve food all day," Martin replied, but anxious to find somewhere for Louisa if she was actually admitting to feeling hungry. He bet that she hadn't had any lunch, he knew her well enough by now to know that when she was nervous, worried or upset she simply didn't eat at all. He didn't want her passing out due to low blood sugar again.
"Well they did before because I remember focusing on the menu board to distract me from the pain of the contractions actually. I could just murder a chicken caeser salad and I remember that being listed as a special. We could call in to see, if not then we'll just carry on back to the village," Louisa suggested.
"OK if that's what you want," Martin agreed, and so he pulled into the pub car park.
xXx
The place hadn't changed at all in the year or so since their last visit. Still the same red orange walls, dark beams, dark wood furniture and flagstone floor. The couch that she had given birth on had gone though –giving birth is a messy, bloody business, and the paramedics had had only a limited supply of sterile underlays. She felt a bit guilty about that, but it had seen better days in any case. There still wasn't a soul in the pub, and she wondered how on earth they kept going with so few customers.
As they walked up to the bar, the same man appeared to serve them. Balding, wearing a check shirt and jeans with braces that Louisa thought could very well be the same ones that he had been wearing that day. He still sported the same moustache and his beer gut had not diminished in any way – occupational hazard when running a pub she guessed. He'd been quick enough to open a bottle of bubbly to 'wet the baby's head' even though no one else was in a position to have an alcoholic drink, so he must have drunk it all himself.
"You're that couple that had the baby here last year aren't you?" The Inn keeper said, staring at them. "You don't forget something like that in a hurry, I can tell you." AndIhaven'tforgottenthattossercallingmeanofficiouslittleoaf,evenifhewasadoctor,thatdidn'texcusehim, the Inn keeper thought to himself.
"Full marks for observation. Now can we see your menu or is it too much to hope that you might possibly serve something that could pass as reasonably adequate food?" Martin was looking behind the bar to see if everything looked at least basically hygienic.
'Stillthesamecharmingmannerthen'thought the Inn keeper, as he passed them two menus.
Louisa nudged Martin and looked daggers at him. Why did he have to be so abrasive sometimes, she wondered. She knew how obsessive he was about hygiene standards, but she only wanted something simple and she was starving now.
"Could I have one of your chicken caeser salads please, and a glass of water. Martin...what are you going to have?" Louisa asked him.
"Oh I'll just have the same, keep it simple, don't want to overburden him when he's run off his feet with so many customers," Martin replied sarcastically, looking round at the empty pub.
The memories that were flooding back to him from their last visit here were unsettling him and making him tetchy. He knew that it hadn't been his finest hour, he'd panicked when Louisa had gone into labour, he'd still been in shock after coming across the crashed taxi and fearing the worst for Louisa. But he knew that it was unforgivable for a doctor, he should have remained calm and in control even if he was personally involved. Instead he'd shouted and blustered at everyone including Louisa. Looking back he couldn't really blame her for throwing him out, or the paramedic for telling him 'Thelessyouspeak,thebetteritisforeveryone'Thank God that everything had turned out well in the end, he would never have forgiven himself if it hadn't.
"You're in early, gets much busier later I'll have you know," the Inn keeper told him huffily as he went off with their food order.
"Come on Martin, let's sit down at the table by the window," Louisa said.
As they sat and waited for their food, Louisa smiled at Martin and got out her picture from the scan and sat looking at it with him.
"It's still so tiny, but perfect, isn't it?" Louisa said to him.
"The measurements are appropriate to the gestational age of the foetus, and no defects were observed," Martin replied.
"Oh go on, you're allowed to say something nice, or something soppy, you don't always have to be a doctor Martin, this is our baby after all," Louisa teased him.
"Well naturally I'm pleased that everything was normal and that there is every indication that this pregnancy will continue to develop normally," Martin responded.
Louisa sighed. She knew that he felt just as excited, elated even, as she did, but he still struggled to voice these thoughts out loud. She supposed that they were out in a public place, and that maybe when they were alone together, maybe tonight, maybe then he would relax a little and tell her how he really felt.
The Inn keeper walked up to their table with their food order, and saw them looking at the scan picture, having overheard enough of their conversation to put two and two together.
"Don't tell me, you were so impressed with the facilities last time that you've come back to book your next baby's delivery here," he said with a twinkle in his eye, ignoring Martin's horrified look as he put the plates down with a flourish before returning to the bar.