Midwives On-Call At Christmas. Tina Beckett
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‘I’ve never seen them together, so I can’t say I’ve noticed.’
Jess raised her eyebrows. ‘She’s like a proverbial cat on a hot tin roof. Mark my words, there’s some history there. I’m not getting embroiled in that.’
Bonnie took a final bite of her tuna sandwich. When she’d finished chewing she had the perfect answer. ‘I’ve got it. Why didn’t I think of him before? You’ve got the perfect answer right under your nose. Dean Edwards, the SCBU doctor.’
Something flickered across Jess’s eyes. Bonnie was on it in an instant.
‘What? Has something happened between you two already?’
Jess almost choked. ‘No. Absolutely not. But I’ll be the only one. He has a different lady for every day of the week. His phone goes off constantly.’
Bonnie took a sip of her tea and sat back in her chair. ‘Dean’s a ladies’ man? Who has he dated at work?’
Jess was quick to shake her head. ‘Oh, no. He doesn’t date anyone at work.’ She held out her hands. ‘But that leaves the rest of the world wide open for him.’
‘And you struck off his list?’ Drat. That came out too bluntly. She’d only met Jess on a few occasions.
But it was just the two of them and Jess looked up from her coffee, her light brown eyes rueful. Maybe it was easier to open up to someone who was new?
She blew out a long, slow breath from her lips. ‘I guess so. He wouldn’t look at me anyway—and even if he did, once he met Wonder Sister he’d be entranced by her. They all are. It wears pretty thin.’
Bonnie reached out towards her again. ‘You’re a gorgeous girl, Jess. It would be wrong of me to say anything about your sister, but, to be honest, she seems like a piece of work. You’ve got much more integrity than that, and somewhere—’ she held up her hands ‘—out there, is a man who is just waiting to find a woman like you. You’ll probably find him when you least expect to.’ She glanced at the clock. ‘I’m sorry but I better go. We’ve got a woman expecting twins due in.’ She put her plate and cup on the tray and winked at Jess. ‘I gave you the option of three gorgeous men and you said no to all of them. Don’t let it be said that you’re picky.’
Jess winked back and put her plate on her tray, standing up and walking towards the catering trolleys. ‘You gave me the option of four, Bonnie. Now I’m wondering if you’re keeping one to yourself.’
And she left, before Bonnie could pick her chin off the floor and stop kicking herself.
* * *
By the time she reached the ward she could feel herself blushing like crazy. This was ridiculous. No one knew she was staying at Jacob’s. Everything at work was entirely professional.
Everything at home was entirely professional too. But Jacob was surprising her. For a guy that acted as though he would run a million miles from kids, he’d been surprisingly good with Freya. Yes, he was still a bit awkward, but he was definitely making an effort. And that mattered. A lot.
It was a dangerous line. If he hadn’t been friendly, they could have felt like trespassers in his home. Jacob still didn’t give much away. He was obviously a private person. And that was fine. Except five-year-olds weren’t always good at knowing when to stop asking questions.
He met her at the doors of the ward. ‘You’re helping with the twin delivery?’
She grinned. ‘I am. Is she your patient? Anything I should know?’
In a labour unit some women would be classed as midwifery care and some as medical care. Any woman with a multiple pregnancy automatically fell under medical care as they were at higher risk of complications. An average woman, with a normal pregnancy, could come into the unit and not come into contact with a medic at all. She would be delivered by the midwives and her follow-up care carried out by them. Babies were different—they were always checked over by a paediatrician.
Bonnie dumped her bag as Jacob kept pace with her. ‘Hayley Dickson has had a textbook pregnancy but her blood pressure has gone up a little in the last two weeks. I’m actually glad she’s gone into spontaneous labour because I was considering inducing her. She’s been scanned for the last few weeks. No problems with the babies. It’s non-identical twins and both babies are around six pounds.’
‘Does she know what she’s having?’
He shook his head. ‘She didn’t want to know.’
Bonnie smiled. ‘Do you?’
‘I might do—’ he tapped his mouth ‘—but my lips are sealed. Let’s go and introduce Mum to these beautiful babies.’ He put his hand on Bonnie’s shoulder. ‘If it’s okay with you, I’d like to let you and Kerry take the lead. I’m only here if there are any issues. I’ll set up the epidural I know she wants. But Hayley is keen to have a normal delivery.’
Bonnie gave a nod. ‘No problem. I’ll go and pick up the cots, be back with you in a minute.’
She was glad that Jacob didn’t want to try and take over and respected the birthing plan his patient had decided on. Sometimes medics could be a bit overzealous. She hated when that happened.
She collected the cots and baby warmers and headed back into the room. Kerry gave her a nod as she entered. ‘Hayley, this is Bonnie, our new ward sister. She’ll be helping with the delivery. Bonnie, this is Hayley and her husband, Jordan.’
Bonnie walked straight to the sink to wash her hands. ‘Pleasure to meet you, Hayley. I’m really looking forward to meeting these two new babies.’ She nodded towards the cots. ‘As soon as the babies are out we’ll have one of our paediatricians check them over. After you’ve had a cuddle, of course.’
Hayley gave a nervous smile, then grimaced as another contraction hit. ‘I didn’t expect these to be coming so quickly.’
Kerry had already completed all the paperwork and hooked Hayley up to the monitors. One was monitoring her babies, the other checking her blood pressure.
Jacob appeared at Bonnie’s back, pushing a trolley with the equipment for the epidural. He gave a nod to Kerry. ‘Have you done a check yet?’
Kerry nodded. ‘Yes, we’re good to go. Hayley is five centimetres dilated and the first baby is head down and in a good position.’
Jacob smiled. ‘Perfect.’ He sat next to Hayley to explain the procedure. It only took him a few minutes. ‘Once the catheter is in place it will only take twenty minutes for the full effect. We’ll keep an eye to make sure it doesn’t slow your labour, but I suspect everything will be fine.’ He gave Bonnie a little nod to help position Hayley on her side.
He was an expert. He had the catheter safely slid into place easily and the medication started. Bonnie stayed in the room with Kerry and they monitored Hayley’s contractions.
Things went smoothly. Around two hours later the first little baby delivered easily. Bonnie quickly checked over the baby’s mouth and breathing before setting the naked little baby on his mother’s chest. ‘You have a beautiful boy. Do you have a name yet?’
Hayley’s husband couldn’t wipe the dopey new-dad smile from his face. ‘Dillon. We’re going to call him Dillon.’
Sean came into the room with a smile. ‘Perfect. I’m just in time. I’m Dr Anderson. I’ll check your little man over in a few seconds, folks.’
He spoke with Jacob for a few minutes, checked Dillon over and declared him well with perfect APGARs. He gave them a little nod. ‘I’ll be back again when your next baby arrives. Good luck, guys.’
Kerry stayed with the new baby for another few minutes while Bonnie checked over Hayley again. The labour progressed quickly with the next baby’s head being delivered; however, within a few seconds Bonnie frowned as another contraction hit. She turned rapidly to Jacob, keeping her voice