Critical Condition

by Nicki Edwards

  Kate turned and headed back toward the front entrance.

  Liam held the door open for the courtyard garden and let Poppy exit first. She headed to a seat under a large tree.

  “Are they going to try to stop the labor?” Liam asked.

  “Not at this stage.”

  “Why are you so flipping calm?” he asked, as he paced backward and forward in front of her.

  “Why are you so flipping agitated?” she retorted. “Anyone would think you’ve never seen a baby being born.”

  He flopped into the seat beside her. “I just want to be sure you’re okay.”

  She lay a hand on his thigh. “Honestly, I’m fine. The baby’s fine. My dates could be out and I might be more like thirty-six weeks, not thirty-four.”

  Liam let out a puff of frustration. “Thirty-six weeks is still early. Shouldn’t they be connecting you to an IV and a monitor and giving you something to stop labor or to make the baby’s lungs mature or something.”

  “Liam. Stop. Listen to yourself. I haven’t had a contraction for half an hour. It’s probably all a false alarm.”

  “If it’s a false alarm why haven’t they sent you home?”

  She dipped her head.

  “Gotcha,” he said, leaning forward and peering into her face.

  Chapter 40

  Liam had never felt fear like this. And he couldn’t believe how unruffled Poppy was. So unruffled it was making his blood boil. She was lying on the grass with her head resting on the pillow on his lap. She’d had three more contractions in the past half an hour, but when he’d suggested he time them, she’d waved him off. He’d timed them anyway and was secretly glad when they didn’t last longer than a minute. Maybe they weren’t the real deal like she said. But he wasn’t betting on it. He’d seen laboring women and that’s exactly what Poppy looked like.

  She was still talking about leaving if the baby hadn’t made an appearance by lunchtime, but he wasn’t taking any chances. If Poppy had any ideas about getting up and leaving the hospital he’d call security if he had to.

  She dozed for an hour and although his leg fell asleep, he didn’t want to disturb her. If she went into full labor, she’d need all the energy she could get.

  At around eleven o’clock, a hot wind swept through the courtyard. Poppy stirred in his lap and struggled into a sitting position. She grimaced and he leaped to his feet.

  “What is it? Another contraction.”

  She looked down at her feet. “Unless you tipped a jug of water over me to cool me down, I reckon my waters just broke.”

  He swore then and took three steps toward the door. “What shall I do? Shall I call an orderly? Get a wheelchair? Why aren’t there emergency buttons out here in the courtyard?”

  “Liam!”

  He froze. “What?”

  “Stop it.” She held out her hand. “Can you help me stand up and then we’ll walk upstairs.”

  He rushed to her side and helped her to her feet. She took one step and then stopped, legs wide, and hunched forward. “We’ll just wait until after this contraction,” she said.

  It took him ten long minutes to get her upstairs. They had to stop four times for four more contractions. He was beside himself when they finally made it into the birthing suite.

  A smiling midwife met them. “Hi, Poppy. I’m Kim. How are things going?”

  “Awesome. But can you do something about him?” Poppy nodded her head in his direction. “I reckon he could use a diazepam.”

  Kim laughed. “He wouldn’t be the first dad who needed a sedative. Come on in and I’ll check you over.”

  Liam wanted to push Kim into action. She was moving around like she had all the time in the world. Didn’t he just announce at the top of his lungs to everyone who would listen that Poppy had had four contractions in ten minutes? Perhaps she needed reminding.

  “Liam is it?”

  He nodded like a child answering a question he wasn’t sure of.

  “If you don’t sit down and stop patrolling this room I’ll be taking your blood pressure before I check your partner’s.”

  He bit his lip and shot Poppy a worried look. She had found a chair and stripped off her clothes. She was leaning forward over the back of the chair as another contraction hit. He was amazed at her strength. Not once had she cried out or complained about the pain.

  Kim left him and spoke softly to Poppy. The two women chatted and Kim nodded when Poppy said she was possibly between four and six weeks early. Kim assured her that everything was set up to deliver a baby that prem. She strapped the CTG belts around Poppy’s abdomen and attached her to the CTG monitor. She explained this was to ensure the baby’s heart rate was measured for any signs of distress. The retrieval team were on standby in Bathurst and if need be, they’d be there in ten minutes and forty minutes later she and the baby would be in Sydney if there were any major dramas.

  With each word of reassurance, Liam felt his composure slip a little further. His brain raced through all the ‘what ifs’ and worst case scenarios.

  Kim’s examination of Poppy was so fast he almost missed it.

  “Congrats Poppy. You’re about eight centimeters. Great work. Liam, are you going to come over here and help?”

  He nodded but when he stood everything went black at the edges. For crying out loud, he couldn’t faint now. He closed his eyes and took a few steadying breaths. When his vision stopped blurring, he went to Poppy’s side.

  “Can you tie back my hair please?” she asked.

  Kim found an elastic band and handed it to him. He gently scraped Poppy’s hair off her face and neck and pulled it into a ponytail.

  “Thanks.”

  “What else do you want me to do?” he asked.

  “A cold flannel would be great.”

  He turned to Kim and she handed him a flannel.

  “Where do you want it?”

  “On my back please.”

  He spread it over her lower back and kept his hand gently on her spine as she rocked and swayed.

  The lights dimmed and soft music came through speakers set in the ceiling.

  Kim stayed in the background, periodically checking on Poppy and encouraging her with her progress.

  Finally Poppy made a guttural grunting sound. “It’s coming.”

  “Don’t push yet,” Kim said gently. “Let me quickly take another look.” She leaned over, looked, then sat back and beamed. “It’s time.”

  Liam glanced toward the door. “Where’s Michael? Shouldn’t he be here?”

  Kim shrugged. “I’ve called him. He’s on his way. But I’m not about to tell your baby to hold on until he gets here and I’m certainly not about to tell Poppy to close her legs.”

  “If you do that I’ll throttle one of you,” Poppy said through gritted teeth. She tipped her head to look at Kim. “Can I push?”

  “Go ahead.”

  Poppy pushed in time to each contraction, and a little while later Liam’s tiny daughter was birthed into his waiting hands. Poppy collapsed to her knees in physical exhaustion. Her face was flushed and mascara was smeared down her cheeks but she wore a massive grin.

  The baby scrunched up her little face and screamed.

  Poppy laughed. “Isn’t that the best sound ever?”

  Liam nodded as tears streamed down his face. “The absolute best.” He exhaled loudly. “That was the most stressful day of my entire life and you were brilliant.”

  He kissed Poppy, handed the baby to her and burst into tears of joy.

  *

  “What are we going to call her?” Poppy asked after the cord was clamped and the baby was attached to her breast and suckling like a champion.

  They had decided on the name William after her dad if the baby was a boy but they hadn’t been able to agree on a girls’ name, presuming it was a sign they weren’t having a daughter.

  “What about Siobhan?” Liam asked. “That was my great-grandmother’s name.”

  “If you thought labor w
as stressful, try picking an Irish name people can’t pronounce – let alone spell. Siobhan is not a consideration. Nice name, but not for our daughter.”

  “What about Maeve?”

  “Nope. No one will be able to spell it.”

  “Niamh.”

  She gave him a look. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Destiny? Raven? Angel? Meadow? Miley?”

  Poppy screwed up her face. “Where are you coming up with these names? None of these were on our original list.”

  “I googled unusual Irish girls’ names while you were resting this afternoon. In case.”

  “What was the last one you said?”

  “Miley?”

  “Yeah. Miley.” She repeated it again. “I like it. Do you?”

  He nodded slowly. “I do. Miley. Miley O’Connor. You’re right. It has a nice ring to it.”

  *

  It was nearly two o’clock in the afternoon before the first family members arrived. Poppy had showered and dressed, adamant she was going home and not staying overnight in hospital. Even though Miley was tiny, she was perfectly healthy, and already feeding beautifully. Poppy wasn’t at all worried about going home. Liam had tried to get Kim to talk her into staying the night but Kim had waved off Liam’s concerns.

  Michael Shelly arrived when it was all over and after he’d checked Poppy and Miley over, he declared they were perfectly healthy too.

  Sean and Lorraine were the first family members to arrive. They knocked and stuck their heads around the door of the birthing suite. Poppy ushered them in and handed the sleeping bundle straight to Lorraine who promptly burst into tears. While Liam took photos, there was another knock on the door. This time Emma and Tom arrived, with big grins and an even bigger armful of presents.

  “She’s gorgeous,” Emma said as she took her from Lorraine’s arms. “She’s so dainty. Look at her little nose. It’s like a button.”

  “And dark,” Tom said, peering over Emma’s shoulder.

  “Yeah, that surprised me,” Poppy said. “I thought she’d be a redhead for sure.”

  “Have you called your mum and told her?” Lorraine asked.

  Poppy shook her head. “No. I think we’ll go and visit her instead. It will be easier that way. I can call the nursing home first and make sure she’s having a good day.”

  “How’s she doing, love?” Sean asked.

  “Up and down still. From a mental health point of view, she’s actually okay, but she’s having trouble with her other leg. They’re talking about amputating that one too.” Poppy shrugged. “I don’t know whether she’ll cope with that.”

  “Hey, we saw Jenni in Target when we were buying all this stuff,” Emma said, changing the subject. “I hope you don’t mind, but I couldn’t keep it a secret and didn’t want to lie.”

  “Not at all. Liam called her to tell her and she said she’d bumped into you. She’ll come in after she’s picked up Hamish and Isaac from school.”

  Poppy looked over at Liam. “Have you called Mackenzie and Nathan?”

  “Yeah. They said they’ll pop over tomorrow with some meals and some clothes which little Aimee has grown out of.” Poppy and Mackenzie had already decided their children were going to be friends – the fact they were both girls made it all the sweeter.

  “We’ll keep going, love,” Sean said after a while. He kissed Poppy on the cheek. “You need to rest.”

  “I’m fine,” she assured him.

  “You are now, but it will hit you later, I promise.” Lorraine smiled. “Make sure my son takes good care of you.”

  Poppy smiled. “I know he will.”

  Not long after they left, there was another knock on the door and Kate burst in.

  “I knew you’d have her today.” She went over to Emma and held out her arms. “My turn. Hand her over. Oh my goodness. She is adorable.” She turned to Joel. “Let’s have another one.”

  “You have got to be joking.” He jiggled the stroller. “The only reason these two aren’t tearing the place apart is they’re padlocked into this thing.”

  “If we fell pregnant straight away, they’d be two and a half by the time another baby arrived.” She sidled up to Joel and showed him Miley. “Look at her.”

  Joel shook his head. “I’m looking. When do you want me to remind you about night feeds, and no sleep and—”

  Kate put a finger to his lips. “Shh. Don’t go scaring Poppy.”

  Poppy laughed. “I think you should definitely have another one.” She looked over at Emma. “And then it’s your turn.”

  Emma blushed. “Actually.”

  Kate and Poppy squealed. “Are you really?”

  Emma chewed her lip. “I didn’t want to say anything because then it looks like I’m stealing your thunder.”

  Poppy hugged her. “Don’t be silly. I couldn’t be happier for you. How far along are you?”

  “Twelve weeks.”

  “That’s brilliant.”

  “Do Mum and Dad know?” Liam asked as he hugged his sister.

  “Not yet. We were going to tell them this week.”

  “You need to tell them now. Go straight there and let them know. They’ll be so excited.”

  “Lorraine will be over the moon,” Poppy agreed.

  *

  By five o’clock everyone had left. While Poppy fed Miley again, Liam went downstairs to put the newly purchased car seat into the car.

  Poppy stared down into her daughter’s eyes. “Hello, Miss Miley. I’m your mummy.” Tiny fingers curled around Poppy’s thumb in response. “Has anyone told you yet that you’re absolutely perfect?” she whispered.

  “Has anyone told you that you’re perfect?” Liam asked.

  Poppy smiled. She hadn’t heard him come back into the room. He kissed Poppy first, then leaned down and gently pressed his lips to Miley’s head.

  “I love you, Poppy.”

  “I love you too, Liam.”

  “I told you everything would work out.”

  Poppy beamed. “Yes. You did.”

  Acknowledgments

  I know acknowledgements sometimes come across sounding gushy but I’m not sorry!

  I would firstly like to honour and thank Haylee Nash for continuing to have faith in me and also for continuing to say “yes” when I pitch book ideas to her. Thank you also to the publishing team at Pan Macmillan Australia, you have been awesome to work with. To my editor, Julia, thanks for being on this journey with me from the start. Your words of encouragement bless me so much.

  As always, I want to thank and acknowledge my incredibly supportive husband, Tim, who is my rock. Tim, thank you for always being here for me. For always believing in my writing, for always giving me the time and freedom to write, and for always being one of my loudest cheerleaders. Your love means everything to me and although life is crazy at times, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Can’t wait to see what’s around the next bend.

  To my amazing children, Jeremy, Chloe, Zach and Toby, who are no longer children. You guys are the best. I’ve said it before but I am ridiculously proud of each of you. Being your mum is my greatest achievement and watching you all grow and develop is one of my greatest joys. Keep chasing those dreams. There is no limit to what you can do.

  I would also like to acknowledge the following people who have given their support for this book, as with my others. Narelle Atkins, Margaret Wigg and Andrea Grigg, who has become a great friend. Andrea, I’m so glad we are on this journey together and I couldn’t be happier to have you by my side and on my team. Thank you for always agreeing to read another version and helping me polish every word. One day you’ll realise what an amazing writer you are!

  To the awesome group of romance writers who meet regularly in Geelong, thank you for cheering me on and being so willing to share your wisdom and advice. Special thanks to Lisa Ireland and Alli Sinclair who are always happy to help answer questions and offer encouragement. Thanks also to Sasha Cottman, Delwyn Jenkins, Jennifer Kloester, Kathry
n Ledson, Fiona Lowe and Alison Stuart. We have such different writing styles yet what we learn from one another is invaluable.

  Finally, thank you to my incredible readers – the ones who have waited patiently (and impatiently) for this, Liam’s happy ever after. Your encouraging messages are what keep me writing. I’m sorry this is the final story in the Birrangulla books. (Although they say you should never say ‘never’.)