Chapter 70: Challenges

Author: zeusfluff.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Blue Blood's characters. They belong to CBS. I do own all originals. Date Started: 3/11/24. Date Finished: 3/23/24. Enjoy!

Jamie felt his phone vibrate in his scrub pants pocket. Fishing it out, he answered.

"Jamie Reagan. I'll be right down."

Jamie rubbed at his tired face as he climbed into the elevator. He'd stuffed his phone back into his pants pocket. When he got down to the ER, he found a couple of EMT's wheeling in a screaming woman. He felt his gut immediately twist with nervousness. Swallowing and taking control of his racing mind, he went into one of the trauma rooms. He looked the EMT's in the eye.

"What have we got?"

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he got a look at his patient. There on the EMT's stretcher from their bus was Sandy. His former nurse. She locked eyes with Jamie, and there was a pleading look in them.

"Please Doctor Reagan, you have to help me! Please!"

Nodding, Jamie kept looking Sandy in the eye.

"Sandy? Can you tell me where it hurts? Have you had any problems with your pregnancy lately?"

Sandy groaned and sobbed some more.

"No! This just started like an hour ago! It hurts!"

Jamie nodded and pulled on a pair of gloves.

"Sandy, do I have permission to examine your belly?"

Sandy nodded her head vigorously and Jamie gently placed his hands on her belly, beginning his exam. He carefully moved his hands over her belly checking for any obstructions. He continued his conversation with her.

"Does anything hurt when I press right here?"

Sandy shook her head but continued to groan. Jamie furrowed his eyebrows and then motioned for Mara to roll the ultrasound over to him.

"Mara, could you roll the ultrasound over here please? I want to check for something."

Mara turned the ultrasound machine on and handed Jamie the wand. She carefully rolled up the bottom of Sandy's shirt just enough to expose her very large baby belly. Jamie again looked into Sandy's eyes and his gaze softened.

"I know you've heard this hundreds of times but: this gel might be a little cold. Let's see what's going on here."

Sandy's screams were now cries, but the pain was still there. Jamie carefully moved the wand over Sandy's belly and let out a silent sigh. A cross between frustration and questioning. Sandy gazed up at Jamie with a giant invisible question mark lining her face.

"What's that look for Doctor Reagan? I've seen you make that face hundreds of times. Now just tell me what's wrong."

Mara took Sandy's hand a squeezed it.

"Let's get you something for the pain, ok? It might make you a little sleepy, but it'll make you feel a little better."

Mara had momentarily distracted Sandy. She patted Sandy's hand, quickly and quietly inserting a pain reliever and a low dose sedative into her system through the iv line in her left hand. Jamie looked at Mara and nodded towards her.

"Mara let's put some privacy screens up. We're gathering a large audience outside."

Mara put up the privacy screens and Jamie turned the ultrasound machine off and rolled it away. Mara turned back to Jamie as he spoke up once more.

"Just because the ultrasound and the initial external exam didn't suggest any obstructions, I just want to check one more thing before we send her upstairs to monitor her. Can you get her legs? Ok, there doesn't seem to be any kind of obstructions here…Wait a minute, there's a foot right here. The baby's breech. Her water must've broken en route here. The baby's going to need to come up for air. Let's get her up to the OR. We need to get this baby out. NOW."

As they rolled Sandy out of the trauma room, her husband Rod came rushing up to them.

"Doctor Reagan! What happened?"

Jamie continued pushing the stretcher down the hallway and Rod struggled to keep up.

"We're taking her up to the OR. The baby's breech. Sandy needs a C-section. The baby will die if we don't get her out quickly."

"Is Sandy alright Doctor Reagan? What about my daughter?"

Jamie kept his focus on getting the baby out. He did his best to control his breath behind his mask. He had to admit, he was more nervous than normal. Sandy wasn't some stranger. She was a former coworker and friend. Taking a breath, his hands emerged with the baby girl in tow. She belted out a giant cry and Jamie held her up towards the window of the observation lounge up above them.

"Here's your baby girl Rod! What are the two of you going to name her?"

Jamie saw the smile on Rod's face grow.

"Sienna. She's beautiful Doctor Reagan! Thank you!"

Sitting in a chair in Sandy's recovery suite, Jamie leaned over to check her pulse.

"Ok you're still breathing."

He blew out a breath. Jamie felt he owed it to Sandy to check up on her after her C-section. Sitting back in the chair, he watched as Sandy took a breath in and slowly opened up her eyes. Blinking, she looked confused for a few brief seconds. Clearing her throat, she got tears in her eyes.

"Doctor Reagan? What happened?"

Jamie smiled and squeezed her hand.

"Hey there. Good to see you awake. Sandy, I had to perform a C-section on you. Your baby was breech. She was trying to come out feet first. I got her out safely and she's beautiful and healthy. She's 9 pounds and 9 ounces. 18 inches long."

Sandy got an apprehensive look on her face and looked down at the blanket. Tears welled in her eyes again.

"Am I able have more kids?"

Jamie's smile stayed put.

"To answer your question: Yes. You can still have children if you chose to down the line. Your uterus is intact. It was really scary there though for a few minutes. You went into DIC twice. I thought we were going to have enough blood to keep transfusing you. But I got everything under control. Now, did you want to try and feed that beautiful baby in the bassinet next to your bed?"

Sandy nodded and Jamie reached into the bassinet, taking Sienna into his arms. She let out a cry of discontent and her tiny right arm had snaked its way out of her receiving blanket. Her little fist going into her mouth. Jamie spoke down to her.

"I know your hungry sweetie. Let's get you to your mommy, and settled so you can have a nice meal."

Sandy's post-partum nurse Katrina came in and smiled.

"Well, it's good to finally see mom's awake. Let's get you situated and get this little one some nourishment."

Jamie saw Sandy's face turn a shade of pink. He respected her privacy.

"I'll let the two of you get to know one another, your first mommy/baby moment, and I'll see myself out. Congratulations Sandy. Let me know if you or Rod need anything ok? I'll come and recheck your stitches in a few hours. Get some rest."

Sandy nodded and Jamie turned his back going towards the door.

Jamie tried to ignore the sweat forming up by his left eyebrow. Sabrina reached up with a 4x4 piece of gauze and wiped the sweat away. Swallowing, he kept encouraging the young mother in front of him.

"You're doing great Marian. Just keep holding your knees, bear down and push. Good. That's good. Give me another push. That's it!"

Marian Salson was one of Jamie's last patients for the day. He'd been dealing with different challenges over almost a twelve-hour shift. Marian let out another cry.

"You do it! I'm done!"

Jamie refocused her and gave her some more encouragement.

"I know your frustrated and tired Marian, but just give me one more push and the baby's head will be out I promise."

Marian nodded her head and gave another grunt as she pushed once more.

"Ok!"

Looking over the sheet once more, Jamie shook his head.

"Try not to push too hard Marian. There you go. That's it. Ok, the head is out! Keep a hold of your knees and push as hard as you can. There you go. Keep going. Here come the shoulders. I've got a right shoulder, and here comes the left. I've got her! You can let go of your knees. Say hello to your beautiful baby girl!"

Marian began to sob, happy tears falling down her cheeks as her head fell against the pillow behind her head. Jamie smiled behind his mask as he handed the screaming little girl over to Mara who then cut the umbilical cord separating mother and child. She placed the little girl on top of Marian's chest, and she quickly began to nurse. Jamie turned Marian's attention back to him.

"Ok Marian, I know your tired, but I want you to give me two big pushes now. Two big pushes so that you can deliver the placenta."

Marian grunted and nodded her head. She felt another weight leave her and swallowed, catching her breath once more. Her husband, Gary burst into the room suddenly, and his face paled as Jamie continued his concentration on what he was doing in front of him.

"I think I'm going to be sick…"

Jamie winced behind his mask but kept his attention on Marian. Marian rolled her eyes at her husband.

"You're afraid of a little bit of blood?"

Jamie was doing his best to stay out of the couple's conversation. It was private after all.

"Ed! I'm home!"

As Jamie closed the front door to the house, he heard Cora call out to him.

"Daddy home!"

He heard a very fussy Patrick upstairs with Eddie who was doing her best to soothe his cries over the baby monitor.

"What's the matter baby boy?"

Jamie picked Cora up and he began to climb the stairs, setting her on the ground in the hallway, he looked her in the eye.

"Cora honey, why don't you go and play in your room."

Cora squealed and ran into her room and closed her door enough to leave it slightly ajar. Entering their bedroom, Jamie saw panic in Eddie's eyes.

"Jamie, I don't know what's wrong! He just started crying 20 minutes ago. He's all sweaty and his heart is racing."

Jamie furrowed his eyebrows and then took Patrick from Eddie's arms. She was exhausted and at the end of her rope.

"Did you try turning the tv on? He falls asleep to background noise."

Eddie nodded her head, unshed tears lining her eyes.

"Yes. I've tried everything. He just keeps crying and he's all sweaty. What's wrong with him Jamie?"

Jamie carefully set Patrick onto the bed and immediately figure out what the problem was.

"He's too hot. He's overheated. Let's get him out of these sweaty clothes, cool him down and put him into something comfortable."

Eddie nodded, feeling a little calmer now that she heard Jamie's explanation about what was going on with Patrick.

"I'll get some washcloths with some cool water."

Jamie nodded but looked to Eddie.

"I'll get them. Stay with him."

Eddie again nodded and began to remove Patrick's damp onesie and kissed his sweaty forehead.

"I know baby. Daddy is getting something to cool you down, ok?"

Patrick kept crying. Jamie came back with a couple of cool, damp wash cloths and handed Eddie one. The couple each taking one side of Patrick and wiping him down. Patrick's cries became slight whimpers and then turned to cooing. Jamie looked at Eddie.

"Let's get a new diaper on him too."

Jamie carefully removed his diaper and made sure he had a fresh one ready because he knew every time either one of them changed Patrick, he'd always pee. Looking up, he spoke to Eddie.

"Babe, we might want to put some more diaper rash cream on his bottom, it's looking a little irritated again."

Eddie nodded and went for the tube of cream and came back to the bed. Jamie gently little Patrick up a little so that Eddie could put the cream on. Securing his fresh diaper, Jamie sighed.

"All better now bud?"

Patrick cooed and gurgled as if to answer his daddy in agreement. He stuck a fist in his mouth and Eddie sighed.

"He's hungry. Hopefully now that he's cooled off, he'll want to eat. Come here sweetie."

Patrick let out a small whimper as Jamie placed him in Eddie's arms and she got herself situated. She smiled as he immediately latched on and began to suckle. His calm and happy coos reassuring both parent's he was feeling much better. Jamie traced Patrick's tiny hand as it flexed against his mother's skin.

"Look at this tiny hand. I still can't believe we made this."

Eddie smiled tiredly; she was glad Patrick was ok. She winced and looked back down at him.

"Ooh. Baby boy. You are a little barracuda."

Jamie gave Eddie a sympathetic look.

"I know babe."

Jamie ran a hand over Patrick's head. He could sit in this moment all day if he could.

To Be Continued…

A/N: So, what'd you guys think? Let me know! Thanks! Sorry for taking so long to update RL has been crazy busy lately.