Chapter 29

By the time Lilly had made it back to her room, she was so exhausted and emotional that she barely had enough strength to climb back into bed. Chris helped her prop up the pillows behind her back and she smiled tiredly.

"So, Jack asked you to move in with him?"

"You really want to talk about this now?" Chris asked

Lilly nodded "I need a distraction, so are you going to do it?"

Chris shrugged "I don't know we haven't been going out that long….isn't it too soon?"

"Only you can answer that I guess. Do you love him?"

Chris smiled shyly "yeah, I do. He's certainly the best guy I've ever been out with"

"So maybe that's your answer"

The door opened and a young woman walked in red hospital scrubs "Mrs Valens?"

"Yes"

"I am Dr Daniels I am here to administer your epidural, it'll take the edge off the contractions"

Lilly sighed in relief "That's great"

Dr Daniels started to set up her tray "Now, I'll need you to sit up so I can put in the spinal catheter" Lilly sat up, leaning against Chris as Dr Daniels instructed and winced as she inserted the needle into her back.

"That's good Lilly, now if you just lie back I am sure you'll feel better in a few moments"

"Thanks" Lilly said with relief

"You're welcome"

She cleaned up her tray, gathering up the gloves and sterile drapes "oh, I think its working already" Lilly replied, closing her eyes.

Dr Daniels grinned "I'm glad you're feeling better" she headed towards the door, pausing just before she reached it "I just wanted to say that I think you're doing remarkably well given your…situation. Just wanted to let you know that everyone is praying for you and your husband"

"Thank you, I appreciate it"

Dr Daniels nodded and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Lilly had been in labour for the past 9 hours and she was exhausted, Dr Palmer had just come back into the room to examine her. She was seriously considering asking him to just reach in there and pull the baby out.

"Well?" Lilly asked as Dr Palmer snapped off gloves and tossed them in a medical waste bin.

"You're at 10cm Lilly I think you're ready to start pushing"

Lilly was relived; finally she was ready to bring her daughter into the world.

"On your next contraction Lilly I want you to push alright?"

Lilly nodded and looked over at Chris "you ready?"

"Are you kidding, I'm about to see my niece born" She said happily as she turned on the camcorder.

"Ok Lilly, here we go….big push now"

Lilly took a deep breath and pushed as hard as she could, the pain was excruciating but she knew that she had to go through it, if it meant that she could hold a piece of Scotty in her arms in the next few hours, to have half of him right there with her.

"Really good Lilly" Dr Palmer encouraged as the contraction subsided.

Chris took a washcloth off the side table and dab Lilly's forehead "You're doing it Lil"

"Big push Lil" Dr Palmer ordered again.

Lilly groaned again and pushed once more, realising that she was grateful that she had a caesarean with the triplets, as she felt a strong burning sensation of overstretched muscles and skin. She wouldn't have been able to do this three times in a row.

"That's it Lil, you're doing great"

"I can't, I need to take a break" she panted falling back against the pillows.

"One more push Lilly and she'll be crowning, this is almost over"

Lilly shook her head "no, I just need a minute"

"Come on Lil, just a little bit longer"

She relented and sat back up again, and screwed up her face with the effort to push her baby's head out.

"That's good Lil; I can see the top of her head"

"You want me to film that?" Chris asked and Lilly nodded

"I want Scotty to be able to see all of it when he wakes up, he'll kick himself when he realises he missed this" she replied, trying to catch her breath.

Chris was a little squeamish about filming…down there… on her sister but she figured that since Scotty most likely would be the only one to see the video what was the problem.

"Let's see if we can get the head out on the next push"

Lilly gathered up her remaining reserves and pushed as hard as she could, groaning loudly.

"That's it Lilly, keep going…..that's it, alright her head is out, you can stop for a second"

"She's got black hair Lil" Chris said encouragingly "and her head is so small"

Lilly groaned "didn't feel small" she retorted and Chris chuckled.

"A big push and we'll have the shoulders out and it will all be over soon"

Lilly pushed once more, feeling more like a tube of toothpaste that someone was squeezing the reaming contents out of. "Oh Lil, she's really beautiful" Chris said softly

Once the shoulders cleared the birth canal the rest felt so much easier, the pain subsided and the room was filled with a sharp cry. "Alright, here she is" Dr Palmer said holding up a squirming baby up for Lilly to see.

Tears of sorrow were replaced with tears of joy as she gazed into the eyes of her daughter "is she ok?" Lilly asked

Dr Palmer smiled as he lowered her back down "she'll have to have a quick stop at the NICU because she is early but she looks healthy" Dr Palmer cut the cord and a nurse took the baby girl over to be cleaned up "now Lil, we just need to deliver the afterbirth so one last push for me"

Lilly's attention was pulled from her daughter and she did what Dr Palmer asked "Good Lilly, it's over now"

She turned her head and saw the nurse wiping the gunk off her daughter, wrapping her up in a pink blanket. She lifted her up in her arms and walked over to Lilly's bed.

"We'll give her a proper bath when she's up stairs, but for now, here she is Mrs Valens, wanna hold her?"

Lilly thought it was rather a ridiculous question but she nodded just the same and she felt complete when a bundle of pink blankets was placed in her arms.

"Oh she's so beautiful" Lilly murmured "hi baby, I am your Mummy"

Chris appeared at her side the video camera in her hand "say hi to your Daddy sweetie" Chris said and Lilly waved the baby's tiny hand at the camera.

A knock on the door made them all look up and another Doctor entered the room "Mrs Valens?" Lilly nodded "I am Doctor Wallace, your husband's surgeon" Lilly's heart was in her throat "you're family said that I could find you down here, congratulations by the way"

"Thank you; how's Scotty?"

Dr Wallace nodded "your Husband was brought in with several bullet wounds to the chest, on further examination it was discovered that he was suffering from a collapsed lung and a torn pulmonary artery. We placed him on bypass and began to repair the damage both to his lung and artery, everything went well and I'm expecting no complications. He came off the pump on the first try and we have wheeled him into the SICU to be monitored for the next 48hrs, after that we can move him to the Cardiac Ward"

Lilly breathed a sigh of relief "so he's alright?"

Dr Wallace smiled "he should be perfectly alright"

Lilly kissed the top of her daughters head "thank you"

"It's my pleasure" Dr Wallace assured her "if you have any questions have one of the nurses page me"

Dr Wallace turned to leave "When can I see my husband?" she asked and he paused.

"He'll be out for at least the next few hours" he replied.

"And you need to rest Lilly" Dr Palmer added

"I don't care, I need to see him, now"

Dr Wallace and Palmer exchanged looks and silently agreed "I can take you up now, but you can only stay for a few minutes, you'll be able to spend more time with him later, unfortunately children aren't allowed in the SICU so he'll have to wait till he's back in the Cardio ward to meet his daughter"

"I'll run your Daughter up to the NICU to perform the well-baby check and then we'll bring her back down when she's ready for her first feed" The nurse said happily as she took the baby from Lilly's arms and Lilly swung her legs out of bed. Dr Palmer, grabbed a pillow, placing it down on a wheelchair, helping Lilly down onto it.

"I'm gonna go call Karmen and check on the kids" Chris replied

"Tell them that they have a new sister" Lilly replied, wincing as she gingerly shifted on the pillow.

Chris chuckled "I'll tell them, maybe I bring them by to meet her later"

Lilly nodded "yeah, I'd like that"

"Ok Mrs Valens, a quick hello, you both need rest, alright?" Dr Wallace said, coming behind her wheelchair.

Lilly nodded as Dr Wallace wheeled her out of the room.

The SICU was only half full but still very busy with nurses and doctors, rotating between beds, changing dressing and checking vitals. Scotty was in the corner, a ventilator still breathing for him and a large white bandage, tapped to the middle of his exposed, well-muscled chest.

"We'll leave him sedated overnight and wean him off the ventilator tomorrow, and then you and Scott's family can visit him longer"

Lilly nodded "can he hear me?" she asked looking up at Dr Wallace.

He shrugged "there is no way of knowing, but talk to him anyway. I'll leave you alone for a few moments"

Lilly looked around at the other patients, some with visitors keeping vidual and some alone, a middle aged black woman smiled compassionately at her as she sat beside a younger man whom Lilly assumed was her son. Lilly smiled back and then looked down at her husband.

Lilly had never seen her husband so vulnerable, this small. But to see him here in front of her, with the heart monitor beeping in steady rhythm and the

Suck, Click

Of the ventilator was enough for her to know that her strong husband was fighting like hell to be with them, to stay alive for Lilly and the kids.

She carefully took his hand in hers, squeezing it gently "Hey baby, it's me….you scared me you know?"

The sucking of air, the click of the ventilator and the soft rise and fall of Scotty's chest was all the response she got, and right now it was enough.

"You have another Daughter and she looks so beautiful Scotty, gonna be a heartbreaker"

Suck, click.

"Her hair is dark like the boys' and her she's got your eyes"

Suck, click.

"I wish you could see her now, hold her in your arms"

Suck, click.

"Chris videoed the birth so you'll be able to see it when you're better"

Suck, click

"I love you, so much"

Suck, click.

She lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it

Suck, click.

"Mrs Valens, we need to check his dressing now, I'll get one of the orderlies to take you back to your room" Dr Wallace said compassionately.

Lilly reluctantly let go of his hand, placing it carefully back on the bed "I love you" she whispered again as the orderly wheeled her out if the SICU.