Spring Break—
Leanne rolls through the front door around eight o'clock. She's still in her scrubs, and she's utterly exhausted. She tosses her bag, and keys on the table in the entryway, and kicks off her shoes. She peels off her compression stockings, and heads toward the laundry room to dump her clothes straight into the washer. Two steps in her foot splatters in something. She looks down, and tries to figure out what she's stepping in.
"Ariel? What's all over the floor down here?
After a few seconds she elicits no answer. She groans as she summits the stairs. She assumes Ariel is probably wearing headphones, and hasn't heard her. She pushes open the door to her room, and finds it empty.
"Ariel? Where are you?"
She hears a growl coming from the bathroom. She rounds the corner, and knocks on the bathroom door.
"Please don't come in here," Ariel begs.
By this point Leanne's pulse is racing. She pushes open the bathroom door, and finds Ariel crumpled into a ball on the floor in front of the tub/shower combo on the rug. Leanne squats down beside her.
"What is happening? Are you sick?"
"Mom," her nostrils flare, "Please make it stop."
"Make what stop, Ariel? I don't understand how to help you if you don't tell me what is going on."
"It hurts so badly."
Leanne looks at her child lying on the floor writhing in pain, and for a moment her mind goes completely blank. Ariel lies on the floor in a pair of black pajama bottoms with a drawstring, and a loose black t-shirt. Leanne's hand moves, and lands in something warm. It isn't blood.
"Mom please help me. Get your bag."
Leanne nods, and makes her way down the stairs. She grabs her medical bag, and races back up the stairs. She thoroughly washes her hands, and proceeds to dry them, and put on gloves. She squats down next to Ariel who is in the fetal position clutching her midsection. Leanne grabs a towel, and rolls it under her head.
"Please tell me that your appendix has ruptured, and the fluid all over the floor is urine because you are in such excruciating pain that you couldn't physically hold it."
Ariel cries, "No. It's not my appendix."
"Are you sure?"
"I had an appendectomy when I was eight. You know that."
Leanne rolls Ariel into a supine position. She presses her hand against her rigid abdomen. Her hair is wet from the shower. Her face is diaphoretic, and her breathing is labored.
"I thought I could do this on my own, but I couldn't. It's too soon, and… I'm really scared."
Leanne remains silent as she pulls off the pajama bottoms. Ariel's feet press against the floor. Leanne grabs a few items from her bag, puts towels under her. She drapes a couple clean towels over her uniform. She gently touches Ariel's knee.
"Listen, none of that matters right now. We are going to get through this. I need you to take a really deep breath, and you're going to pull your knees to your chest, and give me everything you got."
After several seconds Leanne gently uncoils a cord from a partially delivered head.
"Harder this time," she insists. Ariel screams, and cries as she follows Leanne's instruction. Leanne maneuvers a pair of shoulders free. After a few agonizing seconds the third party interrupts the silence with screams. Instinctively she clamps, and cuts the cord, and suctions the little one's mouth, and nose with a bulbous syringe. The blue gloves on her hands place the tiny newborn onto Ariel's chest.
"I need you to hold on to her. We're going to get this placenta delivered."
"I can't. Please!"
"You don't have a choice. On the next contraction we're going to get the placenta delivered."
Ten minutes later Leanne is at the front door to let Rox in. She stands at the door in utter confusion.
"I was on the way back to the station. What's going on?"
"Follow me," Leanne answers.
Rox follows her up the stairs with the backboard. Leanne stops in the doorway of the bathroom. Rox's eyes widen.
"You didn't tell me that…"
"I didn't know. I just came home to all of this happening."
"Okay," Rox nods.
They load Ariel into the rig, and secure the baby in a silver blanket.
"Do you want me to take her to Angels?" Rox queries as she inserts and IV.
"Is that the closest hospital?"
"You know that it's not. Mercy is closer."
"So then that's where we will go."
"Okay," Rox nods in confirmation.
At the hospital Leanne watches from the sidelines as they rush Ariel to the OB floor. She finds a bathroom, and tosses her scrubs into an empty plastic bag from the pocket of the emergency duffle bag she's brought. She uses water, and hand soap to clean the blood, and fluid off. She pulls on a t-shirt, and a pair of jeans. After a few moments she exits the bathroom, and makes a beeline to the nurse's station. They usher her to the nursery where the neonatal staff is examining the baby. Without much warning she finds staff applying a bracelet to her wrist. She watches the flurry of activity. Her presence seems to go mostly unnoticed. In an instant a nurse is nudging her.
"Her vital signs are stable. You can come on over. You don't have to stand on the sidelines."
The neonatologist puts down her stethoscope. "She weighed in at five pounds and three ounces. I would estimate gestation to be around thirty four weeks. Her assessment was within normal limits. It will probably be a while before you can see Ariel. You are welcome to pick her up, and hold her. We encourage as much skin to skin contact as possible. It helps them maintain stable vital signs."
A nurse leads Leanne to a rocking chair. She gingerly lifts the newborn from the warming tray. She carefully navigates around telemetry leads, and a pulse oximeter. In an instant the newborn is pressed against her chest. A pair of bright eyes look up in her direction.
"What a night, huh? I know that I'm not who you're looking for right now."