Mickey's Way

by Karen Clow

  Their conversation was cut short when Maria said she needed to use the toilet, but she had only been in the bathroom a few moments when she called out, “Mum!” Mary moved quickly to the en-suite. When Maria opened the door, she was bent over as though in pain, her waters had broken. Monica said she’d call an ambulance.

  “No,” said Maria “call Mickey first and get him back from the stables, then send Billy over with George to look after the kids, because I don’t want them seeing me like this.”

  Mary helped her back to the bed while Monica made the call to Mickey, then she made her way downstairs to Billy to tell him to go to the stables and look after the kids.

  He passed Mickey a few minutes later running back towards the house. Taking the stairs two at a time, Mickey rushed into the bedroom and headed straight to Maria, to his surprise she was sitting on the bed smiling.

  “Don’t look so worried Mickey, I’m fine; looks like you’re going to be a dad earlier than expected.”

  Surprised at how calm she was, even joking about it and stating that the herbal tea was obviously working. Unlike his wife, he was getting agitated waiting for the ambulance, stating that he could have driven her to the hospital in the time they had been waiting.

  Twenty minutes later the ambulance arrived. Den let them in and took them to the bedroom, explaining on the way that it was triplets and that she had high blood pressure. Mickey thought the ambulance crew both seemed young; he even questioned the female who was checking her as to her knowledge of multiple births. She soon put him in his place.

  “Actually Mr Mann, I’ve delivered several babies en route to the hospital, including twins and as far as I know they’re all thriving. Although these will be my first triplets, because unless I’m wrong, I think they’re on their way, so the sooner we get going the better.”

  Mickey felt slightly humbled over his doubts about her abilities. They made their way down the stairs with Maria strapped in a stretcher chair. Maria felt alright, but said she had an overwhelming desire to push.

  “Do me a favour Maria” said the paramedic “resist that urge, just until we get to the hospital!”

  Maria laughed and said she’d try.

  Mickey travelled with her in the ambulance and throughout the journey he asked the paramedic if everything seemed okay.

  “Everything’s fine, but just pray that we don’t get stuck in traffic, because one of these babies wants to make his debut.”

  Even with the siren going and the blue light flashing, it took almost thirty minutes to arrive at the hospital. Maria was in the full throws of labour as they pulled in and two nurses rushed out to take her inside where a doctor was waiting. Mickey was trying to explain to the doctor about her being booked in for surgery the following day.

  “From the look of things, we’re not going to have time to prep her for surgery,” said the Doc “one of these babies is almost here.”

  A nurse asked Mickey if he wanted to be present at the birth and although in a state of shock, he nodded his head. Taking him to a cubicle she handed him a gown and waited until he put it on before asking him to follow her. He couldn’t believe it as he walked in to the labour room; the baby’s head was visible.

  Several more staff had joined the doctor, including a consultant who was monitoring Maria’s blood pressure intently. Mickey held Maria’s hand, she was so calm, although obviously in terrible pain, but she never complained once.

  “Right,” said the Doc “now dad’s here Maria, take a deep breath and then give me a big push.”

  Mickey was dumbfounded when seconds later the first baby entered the world and the doctor announced that it was a girl, as he passed her to a nurse who immediately took her to another room.

  Mickey was shaking as he listened for a sign that the baby was alright, moments later he heard his daughter’s first cry, but he didn’t have time to think about it as the doctor said baby number two was on its way. Maria cried out as the baby’s head came out. Mickey was relieved when the baby came out crying and the doctor said it was a boy. After passing the baby to the nurse, he looked at the consultant and asked how Maria was doing.

  “She’s causing me some concern, let’s get number three out.”

  It was as the consultant finished talking Mickey felt her hand go limp, panic ran through his entire body as he squeezed her hand and called her name. The consultant looked worried as he asked Mickey to move out of the way. Checking her heart and blood pressure, he gently began tapping her face.

  “Come on Maria, just one more then you can rest. She’s fine dad she’s just passed out, it happens sometimes.”

  Mickey’s heart was pounding hard as he retook her hand.

  “Babe wake up you’re scaring me to death! Come on babe please, just one more.”

  The consultant gave her something through her drip while Mickey talked to her. Suddenly a machine attached to her belly started bleeping. Mickey knew it wasn’t good, despite the doctor’s calmness.

  “We’re losing him, we need to get him out now the heartbeat is very weak” said the consultant, “wake up Maria!”

  Slowly she opened her eyes.

  “Listen to me Maria, the last baby is struggling to be born I’m taking you down to theatre.”

  “No, I want to have the baby naturally,” then she started pushing.

  The consultant looked at the doctor and nodded, he was only prepared to wait a few minutes then they were going to theatre.

  She squeezed Mickey’s hand so hard her nails cut into him, then raising her head and shoulders up she pushed as though her life depended on it. The consultant was worried that her blood pressure was rising too rapidly. Mickey could sense that he was not happy and that she would be going to theatre.

  Suddenly, Maria gave an almighty push and screamed out as the doctor pulled the baby out. It was another boy. Mickey heard the baby make a noise; he was so relieved that it was over he burst into tears. The doctor was just about to congratulate him, when he shouted, “She’s haemorrhaging!”

  Maria just flopped her head to one side, almost as though she’d passed out again. The consultant immediately joined the doctor down the bottom of the bed, while another doctor watched the monitors. A nurse quickly asked Mickey to leave, but he bluntly refused. The nurse looked at the doctor, who quickly nodded at her.

  “Stay at the top of the bed Mr Mann and do not to interfere with the doctors.”

  Mickey nodded.

  They injected Maria with drugs as the consultant ordered a nurse to start giving her blood.

  “We’re losing her, we need to get to theatre now, I can’t stop the bleeding,” said the consultant.

  Mickey held her hand as they began wheeling her away.

  “Please babe don’t leave me, all the babies are fine but they need their mum. I love you Maria.”

  Mickey sat outside the theatre waiting with his head in his hands crying. It was the worst two hours of his entire life, even when a nurse came out to him and asked if he’d like to see his babies, he just shook his head. Seeing that he was distraught, she said she would try and find out how things were going. Mickey nodded.

  Five minutes later the nurse returned.

  “They’ve stopped the bleeding, but she’s lost a lot of blood. The doctor will come out and speak to you shortly.”

  Mickey was too traumatised to answer her, other than to nod his head. He knew from the way she’d said Maria had lost a lot of blood things could still turn out badly. Sitting with his head in his hands he was crying and muttering to himself, he even prayed to God to bring her through this. Then in desperation he said quietly to himself, ‘Jimmy if you can hear me please help her. You know she’s happy and a wonderful mum and, like you, I love her. Please Jimmy do this for her if not for me’.

  For almost ten minutes, he continued talking to himself, repeating over and over for God and Jimmy to help her. Then he felt someone put their hand on his shoulder. Taking his hands away from his face he looked up to see who it
was, but no one was there. He knew he hadn’t imagined it, for the briefest of moments he had definitely felt a hand on his shoulder. At that moment, he felt a chill run through his body. He didn’t believe in ghosts, but he knew in his heart it had been Jimmy.

  A few minutes after his experience, the doctor appeared. He could see the pain of waiting was etched on Mickey face.

  “Your wife is out of danger, we’ve stopped the bleeding and her body is fighting, she is one tough lady. At one point we thought we may lose her, but I think she thought you were there, because she reached out her hand as if to hold someone’s and then she smiled. People do strange things under anaesthetic, still whoever she thought was there, at that moment she turned the corner. We’ll need to keep her in the observation ward for a while, just to watch her, but I hear the babies are doing well.”

  Mickey just stared at him, tears rolling down his face.

  “You should stay and have a cup of tea. Maybe when you’ve seen the babies, you can pop in and see your wife for a few minutes, she’ll be drowsy, but you can see her. Hopefully tomorrow you can see your babies together.”

  Mickey shook his hand and thanked him. When the doctor turned to leave, he said the nurse would bring him a cup of tea. Waiting for the nurse to return, Mickey sat down and thought about what had happened. Despite not believing the way Maria did, he just knew it was Jimmy who she had seen and it was his hand that she’d held. Just as he’d begun to regain his composure, the nurse appeared with his tea. She chatted with him for a few minutes, before asking him if he would like her to take him to see his babies.

  “That’ll be great. The doc said they’re all doing ok?”

  “Yes they’re gorgeous and for triplets they’re all good weights. From what I gather they weren’t expected for a couple of days. Your wife was lucky that her waters broke and the first baby was on its way, otherwise she would have been taken straight to theatre and you would have missed the births.”

  “On hindsight that might have been a good thing, I think I’ve aged ten years in the last few hours!”

  They made their way to the premature baby unit where a senior nurse congratulated him as they entered. Mickey noticed they were the only babies in the unit. The nurse, who had gone in with him, had one last look at them; then said she had to return to the labour ward.

  Thanking her again, he reminded her the doctor had said he could see Maria.

  “Yes you can see her, just give it another half hour or so.”

  Still feeling overwhelmed he looked lovingly at the babies; not noticing at first that one of the boys was in a different incubator to the others. He asked the nurse why.

  “He’s fine, just a bit smaller” replied the nurse, “he had a tough time entering the world. He’s just having a bit of oxygen and we’re warming him up that’s all. By tomorrow he should be just fine, actually did the doctor tell you that he doesn’t think they’re premature? Based on their weights and their lung capacity, he thinks they’re probably right on time, especially as your wife’s waters broke and they delivered quickly. We see it all the time, people often get their due dates wrong, which in this case was a good thing as all the babies seem healthy and they’ve all had a little drink, which is good.”

  Mickey explained that Maria had the contraceptive injection.

  “Well that would explain it,” said the nurse “it’s notoriously hard to predict exactly when the dose ran out.”

  “Can you write down the weights so I can show them to my wife?”

  “Of course, have you decided on names for the babies?”

  “Yes we have, Melissa, Michael and Martin.”

  “Well,” she giggled “you obviously like names beginning with M.”

  “We’ve got two more at home, twins Madeline and Melanie.”

  “Oh God you’re going to have your work cut out, twins and triplets does your wife have fertility treatment?”

  He grinned and shook his head.

  Suggesting he sat down, she took the first baby out and passed her to him.

  “Melissa say hello to your dad.”

  He was nervous as he held her, she was so tiny. Placing his little finger on her hand, she wrapped her fingers around it.

  The nurse put her back and did the same with baby Michael. Mickey noticed he seemed bigger than the other two. The nurse told him that he was the biggest weighing in at 4lbs 1oz. Finally she handed baby Martin to him, but stated that he could only hold him for a couple of minutes, because he needed to keep warm as his body temperature was a bit low.

  Holding him close to his chest he said, “You had us all worried little fella.”

  “Actually dad,” said the nurse “he’s not much smaller than his brother, he weighed in at 3lbs 13oz just an ounce less than his sister. Very good for triplets, usually one is considerably smaller.”

  After she took Martin off him, he thanked her for everything and said he needed to call his family. They’d all been worried about Maria.

  “Use the phone on my desk, just press nine to dial out.”

  He walked over and dialled his home number. His mum spoke before he had a chance to talk. She asked if Maria was alright and if she’d have the babies that day. They were all so worried.

  “She’s had them naturally Mum; we nearly had one in the ambulance. Tell dad he’s got two grandsons and a granddaughter; all three are doing well.”

  He could hear his mum crying as she told the others and then she asked him how Maria was. It was as he began to tell her he burst into tears. Mary was frantic as he couldn’t speak; she kept asking him if she was okay.

  The nurse walked over to him and placed her arm around his shoulder. Mickey passed her the phone and mumbled through his tears for her to tell them. He just sobbed as the nurse explained to his mum that Maria had lost a lot of blood and had to be taken to theatre, but she stressed that she was over the worse and that the doctors expected her to make a good recovery. Mary asked her if Mickey was alright.

  “Yes he’s fine now; I think everything caught up with him when he spoke to you.”

  The nurse passed him the phone back. Trying hard to control his tears, he told his mum how they had come close to losing Maria. His mum could hear the panic in his voice, in an effort to take his mind off Maria she told him to calm down, the twins wanted to speak to him. She put them on speaker phone.

  “Daddy have you got the babies,” asked Madeline.

  “Yes sweetheart, I’m here with them now. I’ll be home soon.”

  “Is Mummy coming home with you?”

  “Not today baby, but you’ll be able to visit her tomorrow.”

  Mary could hear the sadness in his voice as he tried to talk to the girls, especially when Melanie said if he brought the babies home that day they could look after them until mummy came home. He couldn’t reply because he was crying again. Mary took the phone from them and asked if he wanted her and his dad to come to the hospital.

  “No, you’re ok Mum, I’ll be home soon.”

  When the call ended the nurse said if he wanted to bring his parents in later, they could see the babies.

  “Thanks that’s a lovely gesture, but I want my wife to see them first.”

  “I understand, I think you’ll be able to see your wife now.”

  After kissing the babies, he headed for Maria’s room.

  In Maria’s room he sat by the bed holding her hand, she just looked like she was asleep. She had one drip in her arm and a small clamp on her finger which was monitoring her heartbeat. Gently he kissed her hand and told her all three babies were beautiful and healthy as he stroked her head and kissed her forehead. A couple of times she opened her eyes, but he could see that she wasn’t conscious. He’d sat with her for over an hour when a doctor came in.

  “She’s doing well Mr Mann, tomorrow you can take her to see your babies, she’ll probably stay asleep until the morning, why don’t you come back then?”

  After the doctor had reassured him that she would be fine,
Mickey finally stood up to leave.

  “I’ll be back in the morning babe; we can see the babies together then. I love you so much.”

  Mickey kissed her then left.

  Outside the hospital he spotted a taxi. As he got in the driver chatted to him and congratulated him when he heard he had triplets. It was just before eight o’clock when he arrived home.

  His mum was looking out of the window; she smiled but thought to herself that he looked shattered.

  “Congratulations son,” she said hugging him, “sounds like you had a rough time. We were all so worried, how is Maria doing?”

  Looking sorrowful with tears in his eyes, he said Maria was ok and the doctor said she’d be fine. At that moment, he lost it again and tears began rolling down his face.

  “Come on love, she’ll be fine,” said Mary as she put her arm around him. “You should be happy not sad, things could have turned out very differently. Now come on, let’s go and see the others, they’re waiting in the lounge with your dad. I asked Monica and George to stay over with the boys, I hope that was alright?”

  “Course it’s alright, I’m sorry Mum. The babies are beautiful, just like their mum.”

  “Well if the girl is as beautiful as Maria and the boys are as handsome as you, we’ll all have our work cut out! Now come on, let’s go and see your dad. I told them to leave us alone for a while, but they’re dying to see you. The girls wanted to wait up, but I told them they could wait in bed, when I checked on them ten minutes later they were fast asleep.”

  In the lounge, everyone congratulated him. Billy poured him a large scotch and proposed a toast. When Mary asked if he wanted anything to eat, he shook his head. He talked about the babies and Maria, but his mind was on the strange thing that had happened at the hospital. He knew it had been Jimmy, but he never mentioned it, he wondered if he ever would. Even when he went to bed that night, he couldn’t get it out of his mind.