As requested ...

Chapter 17

They arrived at the hospital half hour later. Lauren had been taken to City Hospital instead of Walford General, as it was closer. In the ambulance things had calmed a little as the pain medication had started to kick into action. Joey was still worried by what the medic had said, he had so many thoughts running through his mind it was unreal, he was scared too, more than he probably ever had been. As they arrived Lauren was taken straight through to the emergency department, she was hooked up to numerous machines and several doctors were rushing around her.

Unfortunately Joey had been forced to wait outside. He could only see glimpses of what was happening and his heart dropped every time someone came out and told him nothing. After half hour of pacing up and down the corridor he heard Laurens sobbing from inside the room. His heart triple skipped and pure rush of dread fled through him. It was several minutes before A doctor came out, she looked straight a Joey. He didn't like the look she had on her face, didn't like it at all.

"You must be Joey right?" He nodded

"Please can you tell me what's going on, or at least let me be with her, I can see she's really upset… I can hear her crying" Joey pointed to his crying girlfriend who was leaning back against the hospital pillows, tears streaming down her face. A young nurse was trying to get her to stay calm, but Joey knew it wouldn't happen. If she was that upset, Joey had learnt the best thing to do was to just hold her.

"If you take a seat Joey" He did as he was asked and waited for the doctor to talk again. She took a deep breath "… we know what's wrong with Lauren and she's in a bit of shock at the moment. I don't think she's really taken in what she's been told…Laurens pregnant"

Joeys eyes went wide "What?" oh god, Joey dropped his head to his hands "no no she can't be… I mean, oh god is she losing the baby? Is that why she's in all this pain and bleeding." The doctor shook her head.

"Your partner's in labor, we think she's about 8 months pregnant, she's nearly fully dilated but there's been a few complications."

"No, no, no" Joey shook his head in complete shock, how could she possibly be pregnant, in labor even. They were always safe, Lauren was on the pill to be double safe, she'd even been getting periods, she'd had the cramps the lot. It just seemed so unreal. Then the latter of the doctors sentence registered in his head- complications.

"What's wrong with her? Is she going be alright? What are these complications…"

"Laurens suffered a placental abruption, which means both she and the baby are at risk right now. Not to mention the fact she didn't know she was pregnant. She's had no prenatal care and from what we know right now the baby is pretty small. We'll know more when she's examined. Form what she's said, it seems what Lauren thought was her period has been the slight bleeding of her placenta."

"Can I see her ?"

The doctor nodded "I think she'd appreciate that… she's very scared."

Joey composed himself and walked into the room, well I say walked, he literally ran as he saw Lauren in bits on the bed. She was leaning back into the pillows sobbing, and I mean sobbing. Joey hadn't seen anyone cry like this before, he had no idea what he could do. In that moment though, he realised how scared Lauren must have been. She was the one this was physically happening to. He steeped nearer to her and pressed his lips to her clammy forehead. "it's ok" he whispered, as she leant to the side and collapsed against his chest.

"I'm sorry, Joe, I'm so so sorry."

"you've got nothing to be sorry for babe, it's oks it'll all be ok." In all honestly he didn't know if it would be, but he needed to let this beautiful girl know he was there for her.

"it's not…ahhhww" Joey ran his fingers through her hair trying to calm her. "it's not ok"

"it's alright babe, we'll get through it, I promise you, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. I promise." Lauren nodded although Joey was pretty sure she wasn't taking much in. She was definitely in a state of shock. He could tell by her face she wasn't aware of what was going on around her.

"Lauren we're going to do an ultrasound of the baby darling to see what we can get from that alright… this will be a little bit cold." The doctor squirted the gel onto Laurens stomach, not waiting for her to respond. She definitely didn't look pregnant, her stomach was as flat as ever only slightly rounder in the middle, which hadn't at all been noticed. "OK darling…" Lauren was looking away from the screen where the blurry image was showing up. "your definitely in labour sweetheart"

Joey turned to comfort Lauren but his eyes had found the ultrasound screen. As clear as day, there was an image of a baby on the screen. He could easily make out a head and a hand. "That's the baby Lauren, Head down see?" the doctor pointed to the image.

"no I don't want a baby…Joe tell her, tell her please" The doctor looked at the both of them. "I cant… I can't be pregnant."

"I'm sorry Lauren, I know most people have a good 7 months to get their heads around this at least , but this is happening now, you're having a baby and pretty soon by the looks of it. This baby wants to be born whether you want it to or not darling."

Joey looked down at Lauren, she looked so fragile, like a broken little girl. "Lauren… look at me baby, you need to be brave Lo, be the amazing strong person I know you are"

One of the machines started to bleep at the side of Lauren at the same time she cringed in pain. She looked down in horror as she saw more blood on the bed. "what's going on…"

"we need to get this baby out Lauren, your placenta is tearing and you're losing a lot of blood, baby doesn't like this either and their heartbeat keeps dipping."

The hospital staff were concerned, they were concerned on many levels,that the baby could be premature, which looked like had happened. Lauren was scared stiff and completely in denial about what was going on, they really had their work cut out. Still too overwhelmed and scared to play the expectant Mum, Lauren did the only thing she knew and cried, Joey just did what he could to support her and broke a little more every second.

"I need you to push for me Lauren, time to get this baby out, ok?" Lauren bit her lip and bobbed her once in response "good girl… now push for me"

Lauren followed instructions to the letter, doing exactly what was needed of her. "get it…just, get, it out." She screamed through a push, gripping tightly to Joey's hand.

"nearly there Lauren…you're doing fantastic sweetheart, fantastic."

Joey leant down and kissed the top of her head, allowing her to hold onto him as she gave one last push. Lauren sank back into the pillows sobbing more as the doctor quickly rushed away with her static baby. The room was completely silent other than Lauren's pained cries as she delivered the placenta. Luckily the placenta was still intact and didn't bleed again. "it's alright baby… everything's going to be fine"