The Midwife's New Year Wish

by Jennifer Taylor

  ‘Shh, it’s all going to be OK. Don’t upset yourself now.’

  Nick gently squeezed her hand then moved away from the bed. It was obvious that the girl didn’t want her parents knowing what had happened but there was no way he could avoid telling them when he was going to have to operate on her. He left Resus and made his way to the relatives’ room. Mr and Mrs Carmichael were sitting side by side on the sofa and he waved them back to their seats when they jumped up.

  ‘No, please, sit down.’ He pulled up a chair and sat down, facing them. ‘First of all let me assure you that Jodie is going to be fine. She needs an operation but she’s in no immediate danger.’

  ‘Oh, thank heavens for that!’ Mrs Carmichael gasped. ‘I didn’t know what to think when I went into her bedroom and saw all that blood.’

  Nick nodded. ‘It must have been a shock for you, I imagine.’

  ‘Oh, it was, wasn’t it, Derek?’ she said, turning to her husband.

  ‘It was indeed. Do you know what’s wrong with her, Doctor…?’ Derek Carmichael paused. ‘I’m sorry but I don’t know your name.’

  ‘Nick Lawson. I’m a specialist registrar on the obs and gynae unit.’

  ‘Oh, I see. So what’s happened to Jodie is some sort of female problem, is it?’ Derek asked uncertainly.

  ‘Yes, but maybe not quite what you have in mind.’ Nick chose his words with care because he knew it would be a shock for the couple to learn that their daughter had had a baby. ‘Jodie has recently given birth and part of the placenta has been retained inside her womb. That’s what has caused all the bleeding.’

  ‘Given birth? Is this some sort of a joke?’ Derek shot to his feet. ‘I’ve heard some rubbish in my time but this really takes the biscuit. My daughter is sixteen years old and you’re trying to tell us that she’s had a baby!’

  ‘I’m sorry but it’s true,’ Nick replied calmly because it wouldn’t achieve anything to get into an argument. Even though he couldn’t understand how the parents had failed to notice their daughter was pregnant, that wasn’t the issue at the moment. ‘Jodie has given birth within the past forty-eight hours. I can tell that from examining her so there’s no doubt at all in my mind about what’s happened.’

  ‘They found that baby on Christmas Day, didn’t they? The one that was left down by the river,’ Mrs Carmichael said slowly. She pressed a trembling hand to her mouth. ‘That was Jodie’s baby, wasn’t it? She left it there because she didn’t know what else to do.’

  Nick sighed because he could understand how upsetting this must be for the girl’s parents. ‘Obviously, we’ll need to carry out some tests before we can confirm that Jodie is the child’s mother, but it seems very likely.’

  ‘What do you mean, it seems likely? Has Jodie said that it’s her baby?’ Derek demanded.

  ‘No, she hasn’t. She’s still refusing to admit that she’s had a baby,’ Nick explained.

  ‘There you go, then. That just proves it, doesn’t it?’ Derek scowled at him. ‘You doctors are all the same. You come up with all these fancy theories and expect folks to believe you. It’s a complete load of rubbish, do you hear me? Absolute rot.’

  ‘Stop it!’ Margaret Carmichael jumped to her feet and rounded on her husband. ‘If anyone’s talking rubbish it’s you! I told you that I was worried about Jodie staying in her bedroom all the time, didn’t I, but you just told me to stop fussing. She was probably hiding up there so we wouldn’t notice she was pregnant! And she was too scared to tell us what she’d done with the baby after she’d had it because she knew how you’d react. You’re nothing but a bully, Derek, but you’re not going to bully that poor child ever again!’

  She turned to Nick, ignoring her husband who was staring at her in open-mouthed amazement. ‘I’d like to see my daughter now, Dr Lawson. I want her to know that she isn’t in any trouble. If anyone’s to blame for this then it’s us for making her feel that she couldn’t tell us the truth.’

  ‘Of course. If you’d like to come with me, Mrs Carmichael, I’ll take you to see her.’ Nick glanced at the other man. ‘Would you like to come, too?’

  ‘No, I most certainly wouldn’t!’

  Derek stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Nick didn’t say anything but he could tell how upset Jodie’s mother was as he accompanied her to Resus. He left mother and daughter together while he checked that Theatre was ready for him and was pleased to see they were holding hands when he went back. With a bit of luck the father would come round eventually, but at least the girl had her mother’s support and that was something.

  Mrs Carmichael accompanied them in the lift to Theatre. Nick left her in the waiting room then handed Jodie over to the anaesthetist. Larry was having a day off so he would be working with another member of the team, a young woman called Mary Hopkirk.

  They exchanged the usual pleasantries then Nick went to scrub up while Mary started the premed. Jodie was already in Theatre when he arrived so he lost no time cleaning out the debris that had been left behind in her womb. It wasn’t a complicated procedure but the risk of infection was extremely high so he took meticulous care over it. Fortunately there was very little tearing from the delivery so he only needed to put in a couple of stitches and he was done.

  Jodie would need antibiotics as a precautionary measure because of the high risk of infection but he was confident that she’d make a full recovery physically, at least. How she would cope with the rest was impossible to foretell, but he didn’t allow himself to dwell on it as he sent the girl to Recovery then went to have a word with her mother. The one thing he’d had to learn was that he couldn’t solve everyone’s problems, although it wasn’t always easy to detach himself. Some people just seemed to get to him more than others did. Like Katie, for instance.

  Nick sighed as he opened the waiting-room door because everything kept coming back to Katie.

  CHAPTER SIX

  KATIE had the room ready by the time Jodie was brought down from Theatre. Following Nick’s instructions, she hadn’t said anything to the rest of the staff, although she would have to explain the situation to them at some point, of course. She got the girl settled then wrote up her chart, adding the time and the date when Jodie had been admitted to the unit. Nick had written her up for broad-spec. antibiotics so she double-checked that they’d been administered via the intravenous drip.

  Once she was sure everything was in order she called in Abbey. She’d decided that the trainee should special Jodie because it would help to keep a lid on the gossip if there was just one member of staff responsible for her care. She quickly explained the situation to Abbey then went through Jodie’s chart with her to make sure the trainee was clear about what needed doing. By the time that was finished, Nick had arrived so she left Abbey to keep an eye on the girl while she went to speak to him.

  ‘How did it go?’ she asked.

  ‘OK. I got everything cleaned out so, hopefully, she won’t go down with an infection.’

  Katie frowned when she heard the rather sombre note in his voice. ‘Are you worried about her?’

  ‘No, not really.’ He summoned a smile. ‘I guess I’m just a bit tired, that’s all.’

  ‘No wonder. You’ve been working almost non-stop since you got here. Niall will be wondering if you’re after his job if you carry on like this,’ she said lightly, although she sensed there was rather more to it than he was admitting.

  ‘He needn’t worry. I won’t be here long enough to pose a threat to him.’ He smiled again but she couldn’t help noticing how strained he looked. She was on the point of asking him if there was anything she could do to help when the lift arrived at their floor and a woman stepped out.

  ‘That’s Jodie’s mother,’ Nick explained. ‘Apparently, the parents had no idea she was pregnant so this has been rather a shock for them. The mother seems to be handling the situation fairly well, considering, but the father’s a different story. Just be wary if he turns up, will you? He seems like the sort who
could kick up a fuss.’

  ‘Thanks for the warning.’ Katie grimaced. ‘Although we could do without him making a scene if we’re trying to keep this quiet. I’ve just told Abbey what’s happened so far, but I’ll have to tell the rest of the staff soon. I can’t keep it quiet for ever.’

  ‘Of course not, but if we could try to keep everything low-key for a day or two then at least it will give the poor kid time to sort herself out.’ His tone was grim. ‘Once the press get to know they’ll move heaven and earth to get hold of the story. I don’t want them putting any more pressure on her.’

  ‘They won’t hear about it from us,’ Katie assured him, wondering what had caused him to have such a poor opinion of the press. Did Nick have personal experience of the way they worked, perhaps?

  It was impossible to answer that question and she had to set it aside when Jodie Carmichael’s mother approached them. Nick introduced Katie to her then asked her if she would take Mrs Carmichael to see her daughter while he finished writing up his notes. Jodie was still a little groggy from the anaesthetic when they went into the room but Katie knew that would soon wear off. And as long as there was no sign of infection she should be fine in a few days’ time. Katie wasn’t sure what would happen about the baby if it did turn out to be Jodie’s. It would depend on what the girl wanted to do, of course. However, as she left the room she couldn’t help wishing for a happy ending for this particular story. It would be lovely to know that mother and child had been reunited but life was rarely as cut and dried as she’d like it to be.

  That thought immediately brought her back to Nick and she groaned. Five whole minutes and she hadn’t thought about him. It must be a record!

  Katie had the next two days off and spent the first one catching up with some of the jobs that needed doing. A couple of loads of washing resulted in a stack of ironing but at least she had some clean clothes to wear afterwards.

  On the second day, Mel asked her to go into town with her and they spent a pleasant couple of hours, trawling the shops. Katie tried not to get too despondent when her friend explained that Nick had promised to let her know if he could go the ball once he found out when he was supposed to be working. He obviously wanted to go to the dance, Katie realised, or he would have turned Mel down, so she told her friend that Nick wasn’t rostered to work on New Year’s Eve.

  Mel was thrilled by the news and immediately decided that she needed something new to wear so they did a second foray through the shops. She finally found a dress she liked in one of the new boutiques that had opened in the high street then insisted that Katie must buy something as well. Katie hadn’t decided if she was going to the ball. Although she’d been planning on going because a lot of her friends would be there, she wasn’t sure how she’d feel on the night if she had to watch Mel and Nick dancing together. However, there was no way she could explain all that to Mel so she went along with her friend’s request and ended up buying a beautiful burgundy crêpe dress because it fitted her so perfectly that she couldn’t bear to put it back on the rack. Hopefully, there’d be other occasions when she could wear it if she did chicken out of going to the ball that year.

  She went back into work on the Wednesday morning and found both Niall and Nick in the office when she arrived. They were looking very grim so she and Jean did the handover as quickly as possible. Jean scuttled out of the room as soon as the formalities had been completed, leaving Katie to find out for herself what had been going on.

  ‘What’s happened?’ she demanded.

  ‘Obviously, you’ve not seen the newspaper this morning, have you?’ Niall handed her a copy of the local morning paper and Katie gasped when she saw the headline: LOCAL TEENAGER IS MOTHER OF ABANDONED CHRISTMAS BABY. She quickly skimmed through the report and was horrified to see that the reporter had given Jodie’s name, age and her home address as well.

  ‘How on earth did they get hold of all that information?’ she asked in dismay.

  ‘That’s what I’d like to know, too.’ Niall’s expression was grim. ‘I’ve already had Jodie’s father on the phone and he’s furious about what’s happened. Apparently, the national press have now picked up the story and there’s reporters camped outside his house. He’s threatening to sue the hospital for breach of patient confidentiality and I really can’t blame him. It’s gross professional misconduct to discuss a patient with a third party and I won’t tolerate such behaviour from my staff.’

  ‘I’m sure none of our staff would talk to the press,’ Katie protested. ‘If the story’s come from someone inside the hospital it must be a member of staff from another department. After all, Abbey was the only person who knew anything about this apart from myself and Nick. We were trying to keep it quiet.’

  ‘So I believe, which is why I want to see Abbey in my office as soon as she arrives for duty.’ Niall strode to the door. ‘I’d like you to be there as well, please, Katie. As her line manager, you’ll need to be involved if disciplinary action is taken.’

  Katie couldn’t hide her dismay when Niall left the office. ‘I know he’s right to be concerned but I honestly don’t believe that Abbey had anything to do with this leak. She isn’t the sort of person who’d go around spreading gossip like that.’

  ‘It’s surprising what people will do with the right incentive,’ Nick stated bluntly. ‘Newspapers will pay a lot of money for a story like this and it can be very tempting to take advantage of their generosity.’

  ‘No, I’m sorry, but Abbey would never sell information about a patient. If the leak has come from this department it will have been an accident.’

  ‘Let’s hope your faith isn’t misplaced,’ Nick replied flatly.

  ‘It isn’t.’ She frowned. ‘You seem to have a pretty poor opinion of how people will behave. Is it based on personal experience?’

  ‘I just have a more realistic view of the world than you do. Not everyone is as honest as you are, Katie, and you should remember that. There are people in this world who will do anything for money.’

  ‘And these people—did they do something to you?’ she asked softly because she desperately needed to know. Maybe she was reading too much into this but she sensed it could go a long way towards explaining Nick’s behaviour.

  ‘Nothing that makes any difference now.’ He glanced round when there was a knock on the door. ‘That must be Abbey. I’ll leave you to sort this out. Niall has asked me to take clinic as he’s going to be tied up for most of the morning. I’ll see you later.’

  ‘Yes.’

  Katie sighed as he left and Abbey came into the office. She would have dearly loved to have made him tell her more about what had happened in his past but it wasn’t the right time to worry about it. Abbey had seen the morning paper and she’d guessed that people would think she was responsible for leaking the story. However, she was adamant that she’d had nothing to do with it and Katie believed her.

  They went to Niall’s office and Katie backed her up as she told Niall that she had no idea who’d told the press about Jodie Carmichael being the mother of the abandoned baby. Niall obviously believed her because he apologised for doubting her, but the whole episode had left rather a cloud hanging over the department. Several of the mums had seen the article and some were up in arms about what the teenager had done. Katie calmed things down as best she could but she was in the difficult position of not being able to defend Jodie properly because she wasn’t allowed to discuss the case. It was almost a relief when Rosie Meadows phoned from the antenatal clinic to say that she wasn’t feeling well.

  Katie told her that she’d be straight there and went to relieve her. Nick was in the consulting room and he looked up when she knocked on the door and went in. ‘Thanks for coming so quickly. Poor Rosie looks as though she’s coming down with that wretched flu.’

  ‘She does. I’ve sent her home with strict instructions to go straight to bed.’ She sighed. ‘That’s another one down. We seem to be dropping like flies at the moment, although I have to adm
it that I wasn’t sorry to get away for a while. You could have cut the atmosphere upstairs with a knife.’

  Nick frowned. ‘That poor kid. I can imagine what the other mums are saying about her. We’ll have to see if we can move her somewhere else.’ He glanced at the pile of folders on his desk. ‘Anyway, we’d better get started so could you ask Lucy Brothers to come in, please?’

  Katie went out to the waiting room. Lucy was a new patient and this was her first visit to the clinic. Since she’d arrived, she’d given a detailed medical history, been weighed and had provided a urine sample. She’d also given a sample of blood for testing and Katie took the slip of paper containing all the details from Lucy as she showed her into the room.

  Nick stood up and shook hands. ‘Hello. I’m Nick Lawson, the new specialist registrar on the obs and gynae unit.’

  ‘Pleased to meet you, Dr Lawson.’ Lucy smiled as she sat down. ‘This is all very new to me so I feel a bit out of my depth, I’m afraid. My head’s positively spinning with all the things I’ve had to do so far!’

  Nick laughed. ‘Fed up with being poked and prodded already, are you?’

  ‘A bit, although I’m sure I’ll get used to it by the time Junior arrives,’ Lucy agreed with a smile.

  ‘I know it can seem a bit overwhelming at first but everything we do here is for a reason. We want to make sure that you and your baby are healthy,’ Nick told her. He glanced at the slip of paper that Katie had placed on his desk. ‘I see from this that your blood group is AB positive so that’s fine. We won’t have to worry about rhesus incompatibility. Your weight is also perfect for your height, although we’ll keep an eye on it as your pregnancy advances, of course.’

  ‘How much weight are you allowed to gain?’ Lucy interjected. She chuckled. ‘My mum keeps telling me that she put on four stone when she was having me and at that rate I’ll end up looking like the side of a house!’

  Nick laughed. ‘We’ll certainly try and keep you under the four-stone mark. It isn’t good for you or the baby if you carry that much extra weight around. Twelve and a half kilos—that’s roughly two stone—is the maximum we normally recommend.’