Midwives On-Call At Christmas. Tina Beckett

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СКАЧАТЬ Bonnie at her ankles and taking a little gasp of breath as she pressed her hand against her right-hand ribs.

      ‘Eleanor? Are you having pain?’

      Eleanor grimaced and nodded. The pain was too high up to be a labour pain, but it could indicate something else. The pain seemed to pass quickly and she relaxed a little. ‘I’ve been tired. Really tired. But that’s normal for twin pregnancies, isn’t it? I’ve been feeling a bit sick too. I’ve had a headache for the last few days. I actually vomited twice yesterday—I’ve never done that before. And usually I’m peeing all the time, now I’m hardly peeing at all.’

      Alarm bells were going off in Bonnie’s head. Eleanor was showing some signs of pre-eclampsia. It wasn’t that unusual in twin pregnancies, but Eleanor’s condition seemed to be taking a dangerous turn.

      She put her hand on Eleanor’s arm. ‘I know I’ve just got you into bed. But do you think you could manage to give me a urine sample? I know you said you’re hardly peeing right now, but if you could squeeze something out that would be great.’ She hesitated for a second. ‘I’m also going to call the phlebotomist to take some bloods.’

      Eleanor gave a little sigh and swung her legs around while Bonnie brought a commode into room. Right now, she didn’t even want Eleanor walking into the separate bathroom. She wanted to monitor her at all times.

      Karen came back into the room as Bonnie was helping Eleanor back into bed. She pressed the button on the blood-pressure monitor again. Karen held up some foetal monitors. ‘I thought you might want me to attach these? And Sean is outside.’

      Bonnie nodded as she wheeled the commode towards the door. ‘Will you stay here until I get back?’ Karen gave the tiniest nod of her head. They were both aware of the seriousness of the situation.

      It only took Bonnie two minutes to dipstick the small sample of urine and put the rest in a collection bottle for the lab.

      Once she’d washed her hands she went back outside. But Sean wasn’t alone. He’d been joined at the desk by Jacob.

      Her stomach flipped over. This was work. He couldn’t avoid her—no matter how much he tried to.

      Sean turned to face her. ‘Can you give me an update?’

      Bonnie nodded. Aware that Jacob still wasn’t really looking at her.

      ‘Eleanor Brooks is thirty-four. She’s thirty-two weeks pregnant with twins. I’ve not seen her notes, but I’m assuming her pregnancy has been unremarkable up until now. She collapsed in the street earlier today. She has upper-right-quadrant pain, pitting oedema in her ankles, her blood pressure is one-sixty over one-ten. Pulse eighty-seven. I’ve just tested her urine and it’s positive for protein.’

      She watched as Sean scribbled some notes. ‘There’s more. She’s had a headache the last few days, vomited twice yesterday and she’s been very tired.’

      Jacob frowned. ‘Hasn’t she seen a midwife at any point?’

      Bonnie felt automatically defensive. ‘She should have. She was last seen three weeks ago. The week after that, her midwife was sick, and last week she felt too unwell to attend. She didn’t call in to speak to the midwife as she thought she just had a virus.’

      Jacob started to swear under his breath. ‘This is looking like HELLP syndrome. Do you mind if I come with you, Sean? We might need to do an emergency twin delivery.’

      ‘Glad of the help,’ Sean said quickly. He handed some blood forms to Bonnie. ‘Can you get these done as an emergency?’

      ‘No problem.’ She took them as Sean and Jacob walked into the room to assess Eleanor. Five minutes later the ward clerk arrived with the notes and the phlebotomist answered her page. Bonnie flicked through the notes. Nothing untoward. All Eleanor’s previous appointments had shown a healthy developing pregnancy.

      The missed appointments were unfortunate. She just wished Eleanor had phoned her midwife when she’d started to feel unwell. Maybe her condition could have been picked up sooner. HELLP was serious. It could be life-threatening for both mother and babies.

      Symptoms could be vague but it always started with pre-eclampsia. One of the crucial tests was the blood work and the quickest turnaround time from the lab would be just over an hour. Eleanor was already showing some of the classic signs.

      Sean and Jacob came out of the room, both talking in low voices. The phlebotomist arrived, picked up the blood forms and went to collect the samples that would be needed.

      ‘I think we should prepare and contact the anaesthetist anyway. Give her an ace-inhibitor to try and bring her blood pressure down and don’t leave her alone.’ Those last words were aimed at Bonnie. It was the first time his eyes had connected with hers.

      There was something wrong—which was stupid, because she knew that already. But the look in Jacob’s eyes? It was almost blank. As if there had never been anything between them, and there never would be.

      Focus. She sucked in her breath. There was a patient to deal with. But as soon as Eleanor’s condition was under control, Bonnie was definitely calling the letting agency.

      She’d become too attached to him. They’d become too attached to him, too quickly. It was time to take stock. To take a breath.

      She’d made a massive mistake with Robert. She’d married a man she didn’t really love. When it came to men—her previous choice hadn’t been great. Could she really trust her own judgement now?

      Her heart was telling her one thing and her head another. It was all too much.

      The phlebotomist appeared and waved the blood bottles at them. ‘I’ll take these direct to the lab and ask for the results to be phoned direct.’

      Sean gave a nod. ‘Thanks.’ He turned to face Jacob. ‘If I speak to the anaesthetist now are you free to assist in Theatre if required?’

      There was silence for a few seconds. The quiet made Bonnie look up. Jacob always responded immediately. He never hesitated over clinical care.

      But this time he did. This time he glanced at his watch. She could see him swallow as if a million things were flashing through his brain. ‘I’ll need to make a call to try to delay something else.’

      Sean looked just as surprised as Bonnie. ‘No problem. I can always find Isabel. She’s covering the other theatre list today—but we can cancel the routine procedures for an emergency.’

      That was right. The other theatre list. The one that Jacob had refused to cover today because he had somewhere else to be. Where exactly was that?

      A whole wash of memories flooded over her. Robert. Continually making excuses about where he was going or where he had been. The way he could never look her in the eye when he’d been telling her those lies. Her stomach was in knots. She hated that Jacob was following the same pattern. He could never know how much those memories and associations hurt.

      Jacob wasn’t Robert. He would never be Robert. But he was definitely hiding something. It made her question herself. It made her question her judgement. Her choices had been wrong before. It felt as if she could be walking down the same path.

      Where on earth was he going? And why was he being СКАЧАТЬ