I know Connie is now Clinical lead however for my story, Zoe will still be clinical lead :)
Thursday 20th August 2015
"Tom, can I have a word in my office?" Zoe requested as she caught the doctor walking past.
"Yeah sure." He nodded as he gave one last glance at his 38 week pregnant wife who was unfortunately dealing with a rather uncooperative patient - but Fletch was there, keeping things under control so Tom entered the office and he felt awkward as he stood in front of Zoe's desk whilst Connie sat working away at her computer.
"Right um, this is a bit touchy." Zoe began. "I know that Sam wants to work to her due date and I respect that, and I know she's been working really hard, but compared to her previous numbers, she is falling behind a bit and we have a backlog going into the night as it is without Sam's numbers dropping. And I've been doing over time, Ash has done overtime now I'm afraid I need you to do some overtime to pick up Sam's work load." Zoe explained slowly. "Maybe two days a week you could stay behind for a couple of hours and catch up. It would only be for the next two weeks until Sam goes on maternity leave, unless of course she goes into labour sooner. Because when Sam goes we've got a locum ready to be here within twenty minutes of us giving him notice."
"Zoe I'm sorry but... My baby could come any minute now, I have a heavily pregnant dog at home and Sam is exhausted when we get home from work - if I didn't cook her dinner she wouldn't eat becuase she'd just fall asleep and not wake up until she needed the toilet or until the next morning. I'm sorry but I can't work more hours, I mean if I was in different circumstances I would but, this is my first child and I am not gonna let my wife down when she needs me the most. I can't do overtime." Tom explained.
"Did you just say you have a heavily pregnant dog at home?" Connie asked curiously without even taking her eyes off of the computer screen.
"Yes, why?" Tom demanded as he had to bit his tongue from snapping at the nosy consultant when it was none of her business.
"Don't you think there are enough rescue mongrels and mutts out there looking for new homes without you bringing more into the world?" She queried. "Let alone the number that are put down every day."
"Don't you think that this is a private conversation that has nothing to do with you? I don't remember Zoe saying that you had done any overtime. I'm presuming that you just think that you're better than everyone else so you wouldn't dare to appear to actually help your colleagues." Tom snapped.
"That's because I shouldn't have to do overtime to catch up with your wife's backlog - she's heavily pregnant; and if she can't keep up with the demand she should be on maternity leave." Connie replied simply.
"Can I get on with my work before I do or say something that I regret please?" Tom asked his boss as he tried to reel in his anger. Zoe gave a small nod and so Tom stormed out of the office and slammed the door behind him.
Sam was lying in bed in their dark bedroom with the curtains closed whilst Tom performed the perineal massage for her. He was kneeling between her legs as they kept the room quiet and calm so that Sam was relaxed and Shadow was curled up on the bed next to them.
"Why did you have to talk to Zoe earlier?" Sam asked quietly as she broke the silence to lessen the awkward atmosphere.
"It was nothing." Tom replied but Sam opened her eyes, lifted her head off of her pillow and raised an eyebrow at him, though she could barely see him over the top of her bump. "Zoe was asking me to do overtime but I said no." Tom stated.
"I'm surprised she didn't ask me to do overtime; my patient numbers haven't been the best lately. It takes ten minutes for me to waddle from cubicles to reception." Sam admitted before she noticed the look on Tom's face. "She was asking you to do overtime because of me wasn't she?"
"Maybe." Tom replied softly. "Right, you're all done." He announced as he slid off of the bed and then went into the bathroom to wash his hands.
"Thank you." Sam called as she pulled her underwear and pyjama shorts up.
"You're welcome. Do you want to see why I've been spending so much time in there garage lately?"
"Why?" Sam queried concernedly.
"Just stay in here while I bring something in. And no peaking." Tom ordered as he closed the bedroom door. Sam impatiently huffed as she slowly paced around the room with her hands on her 38 week bump. She was waiting for several minutes when finally, Tom opened the door. "Right Shadow, come on. I've got a surprise for you." Tom smiled but the dog merely raised her head slightly, and then rested her chin back on the bed again. "Don't sound too excited will you?" Tom remarked. "Come on, I've got somewhere else that I think you might like to sleep." He said as he gently helped the dog to stand and then he encouraged her to leave the bedroom and go into the living room. "Tadaa!" Tom announced as Sam went in too and found the wooden box in the corner that was layered inside with many blankets. It was in the corner of the living room and there was an area of newspaper besides it.
"You made her a whelping box." Sam smiled.
"Yeah. I was reading up on it, and dogs need one to give birth in. And if they don't get given somewhere cosy, it's likely that they'll make one somewhere under our bed or somewhere silly like that so I though the best thing to do would be to keep her in sight." Tom explained and then they watched as Shadow sniffled near the box. Slowly, she stepped through the little rectangular notch that Tom had made as an open door for her so that even her bigger belly could fit through, but the puppies wouldn't be able to climb out. She sniffed around a little more and then she curled up amongst the blankets. "And now hopefully, she won't be sleeping on our bed at night." Tom concluded.
"See, you always pretend that you don't like Shadow but you must love her if you've done this for her." Sam commented.
"I don't love her, I just wanted to give her somewhere that she feels safe - you want to give birth somewhere warm and comfortable so presumably she would too." Tom replied.
"Oh so now you're comparing me to a dog?" Sam remarked as she put her hands on her hips that had long disappeared from her figure.
"That came out wrong." Tom protested quickly as he knew only too well that although Sam often said she wouldn't cry just becuase someone said something inappropriate, she did occasionally take things to heart and would be upset about it for a while until she calmed down.
"Don't worry, I know what you mean." Sam stated and Tom let out a small sigh of relief.
2am
Tom woke to movement and suddenly Sam flicked the beside lamp on before she began sitting up on the edge of the bed and she pulled her hoodie on over the top of her sports bra.
"What are you doing?" Tom asked and Sam jumped as she realised that he was awake.
"Going to tescos." Sam replied simply.
"Why?" Tom laughed.
"Because I want something."
"Get back into bed you silly cow, I'll get whatever you want." Tom laughed as he got out of bed, went around her side and took her hoodie off of her. "What do you want?' He asked curiously.
"Strawberries, bananas and some apple juice. Honestly Tom I don't mind going." Sam protested.
"No, I'll go. You should've just woken me anyway." Tom stated as he laid her down on her side and he pulled the duvet over her bump and up to her chin.
"Well I didn't think it would be fair to wake you and demand that you go to tescos in the middle of the night for me." Sam admitted.
"If only every other pregnant woman in the world was like that." Tom smiled. "But really, I don't mind going. Are you sure that's all you want? Do you want anything for breakfast in the morning?"
"I wouldn't mind some grapefruit. And... Some of them dried banana chip things." Sam replied.
"Wow, healthy." Tom quipped. "I'll probably be about 15-20 mins, if you're asleep when I get back, do you want me to wake you up or leave you?" He asked as he pulled on a pair of jeans and a jumper.
"Wake me with food, that's always the best way to wake me." Sam smiled.
'Well it is when you're pregnant.' Tom remarked. "Right, I'll see you soon." Tom said softly as he pecked Sam on the forehead.
2:30am
Tom locked the front door behind him and as he carried the shopping bag through the living room, he could see through the darkness that Shadow was curled up in her whelping box where she had clearly rearranged the blankets that Tom had laid out straight because they were all over the place. He noticed that the bedroom light was on and as he poked his head in the room, he saw Sam sitting up in bed reading her kindle.
"I'll just cut you some fruit up yeah?"
"Mm, thank you." Sam smiled as Tom left the room and went into the kitchen. A few minutes later, Tom returned with a bowl of strawberries and sliced banana along with a glass of apple juice as requested.
"Shadow definitely likes her box." Tom commented though he frowned as Sam took the bowl and the glass and she poured the apple juice into the bowl of fruit. "What on earth?" He laughed.
"What? It's a fruit salad." Sam protested as she rested the bowl on her bump and began eating.
"You do realise that it's half two in the morning and you're sitting there eating a 'fruit salad' right?" Tom smirked as he took off his jeans and jumper and got into bed in his boxers.
"You do realise that I don't care. Right?" Sam asked mockingly.
"Are you sure about wanting an unassisted home birth?" Tom asked. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to deliver our baby without the midwives annoying me and getting in the way but I just don't want you to panic because it's your first birth and you might be a bit apprehensive." Tom explained delicately.
"Tom I've watched live births, I've delivered babies, I've read up as much as I possibly can about births and I know more than the average new mother so trust me, I'm not as nervous as you think." Sam replied. "In fact I'm not nervous at all now, I just want this big lump out of me." Sam huffed.
"I'm sure you'll wish he was back inside of you after the first couple of days when you can't get him to sleep or he won't stop crying." Tom said softly as he put his arm around her shoulders.
"When I do go into labour, you're not going to panic, are you?"
"No but I might be a little bit excited." Tom admitted happily. "Who do you think is gonna come first? Our baby or Shadow's puppies?" Tom asked curiously as they both had very similar due dates but Shadow's was a rougher estimate because she could give birth between 58-65 days.
"I'd rather it if our baby came first because then we can hopefully get him off to sleep while we help Shadow, plus I'd rather not be leaning over Shadow's whelping box whilst my back is killing me because of your son's skull digging into my spine." Sam complained.
"Could you imagine if you and Shadow were in labour at the same time?" Tom joked.
"That kind of stuff only happens on TV." Sam muttered.
Coming up: Sam turns 30 whilst she gets more and more impatient with her son's delayed arrival. Desperate times call for desperate measures!
Thanks for reading, please review :)