27th July 2014

7:30am
Tom stood in NICU nursing a cup of coffee as he stood watching his sleeping wife from afar. She was still wrapped in a blanket, just like the position she had fallen asleep last night as her head hung with her eyes closed. He was surprised that she wasn't already awake, but he couldn't wait for her to wake up so that he could tell Sam the news, that their little girl had made the night. And that her stats had ever so slightly improved - she was only hours old and Tom was already so proud of that little girl because she was a fighter.

"Tom, I'm just about to go and update the press becuase the board has ordered me to because they're blocking the entrance, would you like to come with me?" Mr Solis asked as he poked his head into NICU.
"Um..." Tom began to consider it because said a father, he wanted to tell the world how proud he was of his wife, and of his children, yet because Sam was still asleep, he wasn't sure.
"I need to go now so that I can get back for the babies' obs." Mr Solis stated.
"Um, yeah sure, sure. I'm coming." Tom nodded as he finished his coffee, placed the cup in the bin and then followed the consultant out.

A little while later, a nurse came into NICU after being sent by Mr T to give her another pain relief dosage because she must've needed it as she hadn't been down to maternity all night. She felt bad about having to wake the new mum, but it was only for the best so she gently shook the woman's arm.
"Sam? Sam?" She questioned, but the patient was unresponsive. Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of something on the ground and as she moved the thick blue blanket out of the way, she found a pool of thick, crimson blood on the floor and it was still dripping from the wheelchair. She pulled the blanket off of Sam's lap, and saw the her entire gown was soaked through and stained bright red. She knew that loud noises were meant to be avoided in NICU, but this was a matter of life and death. "Can I get some help in here?" She shouted loudly.

"But I'd just like to thank Mr Solis and the entire medical team of 46 people who had taken part in this tremendous task. I know it's not over by a long shot, but my wife and my children wouldn't have made it this far without you all." Tom said as he stood besides Mr Solis in front of a large crowd of journalists with flashing cameras, microphones and notepads. "I-" Tom began to speak again but a nurse quickly came up behind him, went on her tiptoes and whispered something into his ear. The crowd only watched as Tom's face dropped from glory to pure terror as he turned around and sprinted back into the hospital to find his critically ill wife...

Tom bounded into the theatre gallery on maternity as he saw the dirty blood soaked swabs spread out across his wife's abdomen while Mr T was obviously intervening between Sam's legs.
"What happening?" Tom demanded through the voice over.
"Tom, get out you shouldn't see this." Mr T warned through his face mask as he frantically tried to stop the bleeding.
"No, tell me what's wrong with her now." Tom demanded.
"It's postpartum haemorrhage, I need to stem the bleed I think there might be a small fragment of her placenta left." Mr T explained. "Didn't she say anything about heavy bleeding last night?" He asked.
"I don't know, once she was besides the incubator she just didn't move, she barely spoke, she just sat there." Tom blurted out before he ran his hands through his hair.

"Alright, alright, calm down. Just go to NICU, I'll come and find you when there's any news, I promise." Mr T ordered. "Tom go, you're only gonna make me take longer." Mr T stated so Tom gave his wife's pale face one last glance before he reluctantly disappeared from the room.

Tom was standing in the middle of NICU so that he could see all of his children. Everything in there was silent, with only the gentle beeping that could be heard if you got closer to one of the babies' monitors. He was brought out of his thoughts when a nurse behind him cleared her throat. He turned to see the young nurse standing with a small box of eight different toys.
"I was told that you had these sterilised for your babies." She said softly. "If you want, you can put one in their incubators for them, they just have to be in a corner away from any wires." She offered.
"Thanks but... I know it sounds stupid but I think my wife wanted a certain animal to go to a certain baby so I'll wait for her." Tom stated as he took the plastic box and then placed it on a cupboard at the side of the room. He was certain that Sam was going to make it, she had to because there was no way on earth that he could raise those babies by himself. And besides that, he just couldn't live without his wife - she was his rock, she was always there when he needed support, and she was a vital part of his life. The polite nurse smiled before she went back to the side room.

Tom was just glancing around the room, when he heard a small startle, and one of the babies began to make noises of discomfort. It took him a while before he worked out that it was Baby A because most incubators were covered by blankets so he approached and saw that the small baby was wriggling and he had his face screwed up.
"Excuse me, he's... He's..." Tom trailed off as he didn't actually know what was wrong. The nurse quickly entered expecting an emergency, only she found the baby who had just hit a big milestone.
"Let's just have a look." She smiled at the baby as she carefully took the side panel off of the incubator and undone the side stickers of the nappy. "Yep, he's had his first wet nappy." She stated. "This is a really big step for him." She added to set the anxious parent at ease. "Do you want to change him? I can help you, don't worry." She asked.

"Um, yeah yeah sure." Tom nodded as the nurse opened a bedside cupboard and took out a bottle of distilled water, a swab and a nappy that was his size - everything in that cupboard was just for him.
"Right, place the clean nappy underneath him first so that no mess gets on the blankets." She said softly as Tom stood besides the incubator on the side where the panel had been removed. Tom unfolded the nappy but then hovered his hand around the baby.
"Do I just...?"
"Just gently lift his feet up, that's it." She did softly as Tom positioned it perfectly. He had to be careful of all the wires, and they were only adding to the difficulty. "Now, the sides are already undone, you just need to pull back the nappy, but do it gently because some boys like to surprise their parents by weeing as soon as the cold air hits them." The nurse smiled sweetly as Tom gradually peeled the front of the nappy away, revealing a small yellow patch on the white material. "Now as you pull the dirty nappy out from underneath him, just use it to give him a wipe as best as you can, and then place the nappy in the blue bin because it'll need to be weighed." She ordered and Tom shakily pulled the nappy away, folded it in half and then put it in the bin below him.

"Now what?" Tom asked helplessly.
"Now just squeeze a little bit of that sterile water onto the cloth, and wipe him properly, make sure that you get between the folds of his legs too." She instructed.
"Is that alright?" Tom asked worriedly as he held the cloth in his hand after wiping his little boy.
"Yep, now put the swab in the green bin for general waste, do up the new nappy and your done." She smiled.
"How tight?" Tom asked.
"Just so that you can comfortably fit two fingers between him and the nappy." She replied. Tom peeled off the bits of paper and put them in the bin, before he put the nappy together and the baby was content once more. "And you've changed your first nappy without physical help." The nurse announced quietly. "Well done daddy." She added and Tom smiled to himself as the nurse put the side panel back on the incubator securely.

"Tom." Mr T began as he entered the room and the father turned around apprehensively yet eager for news. "Sam's in recovery, but in about an hour she'll be taken to her original hospital room on maternity. I stemmed the bleed but it was borderline needing a blood transfusion and she's only on fluids so, she's going to be temporarily anaemic." He explained.
"But she's going to be okay?" Tom asked.
"Yeah, she's a fighter." Mr T nodded. "But, stay here for another hour with your kids, you probably won't be let into recovery anyway. Then go and see Sam when she's back in her room, she won't be awake for a while yet."

Tom was holding Sam's hand tightly as she slowly came around from sedation.
"Hey." Tom whispered as he kissed her hand once she had finally managed to open her eyes properly.
"Wh... The... The babies... Tom I-" Sam stuttered.
"Calm down. They're all fine." Tom said softly.
"But... She didn't make it through the night, she-"
"Oh no no no no no, I forgot that you didn't know, Sam she's fine, her stats have improved." Tom replied quickly as he remembered that before she had fallen asleep and unconscious, she had believed that her smallest and youngest daughter was going to die.
"Really?" Sam asked.
"Yeah." Tom laughed softly as he nodded.

"I need to see her." Sam stated as she tried to use her lethargic limbs to sit up but Tom held her down.
"Sam, you're not going anywhere." Mr T stated sternly from the end of her bed.
"No, you can't keep me-"
"Sam, if you don't calm down I'm going to have to sedate you because your putting yourself at risk, you need to stay still you've just had further surgery and if you move you could cause further bleeding." He warned sternly. Sam rolled her eyes before she let her head hit the pillow in annoyance.

"Our babies are all stable." Tom stated reassuringly. "Hey, I even got to change Baby A's first wet nappy without any help." Tom stated proudly.
"He had a wet nappy?" Sam asked and her husband nodded. "What about any of the others?"
"Not yet, they're all still on IV nutrients, no milk except for Baby A and B. Speaking of which I think NICU need some more milk." Tom stated as he nodded to the two empty bottles which had been delivered by NICU earlier.
"Yeah, I will once..." Sam trailed off as she glanced at her obstetrician momentarily.

"Say no more, I'll be on my way. But I do not, want you out of this bed. Are we clear?" Mr T said sternly.
"Crystal." Sam smiled sarcastically as the consultant left.
"You're such an idiot, y'know that?" Tom shook his head at her.
"Why?" She protested innocently.
"Because I got told by a nurse that she had been scarred for life becuase she found you sitting in your wheelchair surrounded by a pool of blood coming from between your legs." Tom stated. "Did you not realise in the evening that you were bleeding too much?"
"No. The nurses in recovery always changed the maternity towel for me because of the epidural, and I'd only just come off of the epidural before I went down to NICU last night so it never actually changed it myself." Sam admitted.
"Fine. So c'mon milk machine. Fill 'em up." He joked as he slowly sat Sam's bed up at a 45° angle and then held the first bottle for her. "And I'm more than happy to be the milkman if required." He said suggestively to which Sam huffed.
"Never gonna happen." She retorted as she began to undo some of the ties.

7pm
Sam was getting more and more impatient about being bedridden becuase she just wanted to go back down to NICU. Thankfully, she was just about to burst of anger when Mr T entered to take her obs.
"Right, when can I get out of bed?" Sam demanded.
"Not until tomorrow morning at the earliest. Have a good nights sleep and then we'll see how you are in the morning." Mr T replied as he picked up Sam's folder and began to write down her stats. "If you got out of bed now, you'd probably faint within seconds." He retorted.
"But... Can't I just get up to go to the toilet?" Sam asked awkwardly.
"Nope, I'll get a nurse for you to use a bedpan." He stated without taking his eyes off of the paperwork and Tom watched as Sam shifted uncomfortably.
"Don't worry about the nurse, I'll help her once you've gone." Tom said to Mr T.
"Alright, but remember, if you have any clots bigger than a 5p coin let me know."

A few minutes later, the consultant left the room and Tom got the bed pan out of the cupboard.
"Can't you just let me go to the toilet?" Sam whined. "Please?"
"Nope." Tom replied bluntly as he balanced the bedpan on the edge of Sam's bed.
"Tom, if I have to go here, I'm gonna get blood everywhere. And I need to change anyway. Please." She pleaded desperately.
"You heard what Mr T said." Tom sighed.
"Yeah, and you heard what I just said. Please? I won't lock the door." She begged.
"I... But... Oh fine, but we're taking this very slowly." He warned and Sam grinned because she really detested the idea of going in a bed pan with her husband in the room, and whilst she was still bleeding.

Tom escorted her to the ensuite bathroom and they were both very careful of her c section scar, before he helped her back into bed and tucked her back in under the cover.
"Right, just get some rest and then I'll take you down to NICU in the morning if Mr T says it's okay." Tom said softly as he pulled the bed sheet up to her chin. "And I think that we should start thinking about names tomorrow. Just get a few ideas in your head."
"Mm. But don't you go thinking too hard, I know what you're like." Sam joked halfheartedly.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Tom protested.
"If I let you name the boys, you'd call them Tom, Dick and Harry." Sam stated sleepily.
"No I wouldn't." Tom said. "C'mon, get some rest sleepy head."
"Can you do me a favour?" Sam asked.
"Depends what it is." Tom replied hesitantly.
"Go and say goodnight to them for me."
"How do I know that you're not gonna be climbing out of bed while I'm gone?"
"Please Tom, I haven't seen them at all today. Just go and read them a story or a nursery rhyme and see if there's any updates."
"Alright, but don't wait up. Get some rest." Tom whispered before he pecked Sam on the cheek. He also grabbed the two bottles of milk that Sam had expressed within the hour, and took them with him.

Tom entered NICU to find Mr Solis putting Baby H's folder back into the slot by her incubator.
"I brought some more of Sam's milk." Tom stated as he handed the bottles to the consultant.
"Oh right, great." Mr Solis nodded.
"Any changes?" Tom asked curiously.
"Um, Baby E was going a little yellow from jaundice earlier, so we've put her on phototherapy for a few hours tonight. But other than that, not much." He stated as he pointed to the baby in the far right corner that was under a purple light with a blindfold on to protect her eyes.
"Okay. Um, when can we expect to be able to hold them?" Tom asked curiously.

"Well... It's difficult to say. I mean, Baby C, D, E, F, G and H certainly won't be for a little while because they're still intubated. Baby A and Baby B on the other hand... I mean, maybe in a week they could tolerate a little hold using kangaroo care, so you'd hold them within your tshirt to keep them warm and have skin to skin contact, but it wouldn't be for very long, and of course it does depend on how they progress." Mr Solis explained. "But um, I'd better take these to get them stored." He stated as he gestured the bottles of milk. "Oh, and there's some more sterilised bottles in that cupboard there. Just take some up to Sam and she can express first thing in the morning." He added before he left the room.

Tom decided to go in chronological order as usual, so he grabbed a book from the box of resources, grabbed the chair and sat besides Baby A's incubator.
"Hello little man, you ready for a bedtime story?" Tom asked softly as he leant forward to be close to his child. "Mummy's a bit poorly at the moment, but she told me to wish you a goodnight, and she can't wait to see you again."

At 10pm, Tom returned to Sam's hospital room on maternity. He had read all of his children the same short story, and by the sixth time, he pretty much knew it off by heart. He had given each of his children a small hand hold for a little while and he told all of them how much they were loved by mummy and daddy before he had returned to his wife.

She was fast asleep in her bed, lying on her back with her fairly straight hair coming down over her shoulders before it disappeared below the fresh white hospital bed sheet, so he decided that rather than snuggle up to her like usual, he would sleep in the armchair besides her bed so that he would be there when she woke up despite the discomfort that it would cause him. He placed the empty, sterile bottles that he had brought up, on the bedside table for her to express milk into in the morning.

He then curled up in the chair, let his shoes drop to the floor and used his jumper as a blanket before he soon drifted off into a deep snooze.

Thanks for reading, next up Sam and Tom try to come up with the perfect names for their little angels. Please review :)