29. Mai
Mai
Mai sprinted through Burra Hospital to the operating theatres, only stopping for long enough to throw a pair of scrubs on and push her hair up into a hat.
She shoved the door to the operating theatre open—ignoring the sign that told her to use the button to open it—and dashed inside. Glancing at the resuscitaire in the corner, she was relieved to see no baby on there.
Peering at Lily, the obstetric surgeon, Mai saw she probably had five minutes to get equipment ready for the baby’s arrival.
“Hey, Clara. I’m here. I’m getting things set up,” Mai called to her friend, as she double checked the equipment.
Sadie’s head popped up from behind the drape, and she rushed over to Mai. “Thanks for coming. The locum was being a total dick,” she complained.
Mai didn’t comment about the locum; she didn’t have time to get into what she thought about him.
“How’s Clara?” Mai asked.
“She’s stable. It’s the baby they're worried about,” Sadie said quietly so Clara and Taylor couldn’t hear her.
Mai nodded and checked the last of her equipment, smiling gratefully at Sarah, the midwife, who had laid out everything ready for her.
Checking the state of the operation, she saw she had a minute to spare and rushed over to Clara.
“Hey, Clara. How are you going?” Mai stared down at her friend’s pale face. Taylor was sat next to her, his eyes wide and terrified.
“Shit,” Clara replied, turning her head to give her friend a small smile.
“Yeah. I bet. I’m going to take good care of your baby, okay. You know they may struggle a little with their lungs as you’ve not had steroids.”
“I know.” Tears filled Clara’s eyes.
“If they need extra oxygen, I’ll sort it, okay,” Mai said confidently.
She knew she couldn’t fix everything, but Clara and Taylor didn’t need her sounding unsure at this point.
“I know.” Clara nodded her head, a hitch in her voice, and Mai could see that her fingers were white where her hand clutched Taylor’s.
Lily called from the other side of the drapes. “You guys are going to have a baby within the next sixty seconds.”
Clara grunted as Lily pressed high on her abdomen to push the baby down and out through the incision.
“See you soon,” Mai said and made her way back to her corner of the theatre as a dark head of hair emerged from Clara’s abdomen.
She watched intently, and when the baby's head was out and she could see its scrunched-up face, she began the chant she used every time she was in theatre.
Come on cry. Come on little one, just a small cry.
If they were crying, they were breathing.
The theatre was silent. None of the staff made a noise, and the baby didn’t either.
Shit, Mai swore to herself and mentally ran through her equipment again.
Come on baby, cry.
The silence became louder.
Lily rubbed the baby's chest as she waited to clamp the cord. Her gaze darted across to Mai, and the surgeon shook her head.
“Is he alright?” Clara’s frantic question came from the other side of the drapes.
“He’s really stunned. I’m about to clamp the cord and take him to Mai.”
Mai closed her eyes when she heard Clara’s sob.
Shit, this was bad.
When the tiny boy was deposited in front of her by the surgeon, her world narrowed down, and she wasn’t aware of anything going on around her.
She immediately put the CPAP mask over the baby's face.
“Put the sats probe on, what’s the heart rate?” she spoke to the midwife who stood next to her.
The baby made no respiratory effort, so she began to positively pressure ventilate them, watching the chest rise and fall with each breath she gave him.
“Heart rate is eighty,” the midwife supplied.
She swore internally, but outside was calm and collected. “We’ll do one minute of ventilation then recheck heart rate.”
Mai continued to supply oxygen to the tiny baby, who was actually an okay size for his prematurity, which was a relief.
When the minute was up, she looked up and saw the sats were sixty percent and the heart rate ninety. She was going to give him another minute, then decide if he needed intubation.
She knew Clara would be frantic, so she called out, “Clara, I’m giving him CPAP, his heart rate was eighty, and it’s picked up to ninety.” She didn’t tell her friend the saturations. Clara was an adult anaesthetist, and Mai knew that mentioning oxygen levels of sixty would freak her friend out.
She looked at the tiny baby and quietly told him, “Come on, little man. Let’s do the right thing for your parents.”
At the end of the next minute, she rechecked, and some relief flowed over her. His heart rate had increased again and was now one hundred and ten. He wasn’t making any respiratory effort yet, but at least he wasn’t deteriorating.
“His heart rate’s above one hundred,” Mai called out.
She heard a sob from Clara and Sadie’s quiet voice reassuring her. “He’s going the right way, Clara.”
Mai stared down at the baby and couldn’t stop the small smile that tugged at her lips when she saw some chest movement. “Come on, little man. That’s the idea. Let’s keep going with that effort.”
He took another breath, then another. His heart rate was now one hundred and twenty, and his saturations were eighty percent.
“Clara, he’s starting to make respiratory effort,” Mai called.
The baby’s arms began to move, and he squirmed under Mai’s careful but firm care. Once he looked like he was breathing consistently, she stopped giving him positive pressure and let him breathe on the oxygen.
He opened his mouth, and Mai willed him to make some noise.
A quiet cry escaped from his pursed lips.
Yes! She celebrated internally.
“Come on little man, let’s have a big, loud cry and clear those lungs,” she encouraged the baby.
The baby opened his mouth again, and this time a clearly audible cry emerged.
“Is that our baby?” Clara said frantically.
“That’s your baby, Clara. I’m still giving him oxygen, but he’s now looking very pissed off with me.” Mai grinned as the baby gradually got stronger under her careful grip.
He opened his eyes and stared at her for a long moment, then scrunched them closed and wailed with his full lungs. Mai observed him for another minute. He looked good, with no sign of respiratory distress; his saturations were well within normal parameters, and his heart rate was great.
Mai took the oxygen off, watching him carefully for another minute before she turned to the operating table that held Clara. Sadie was peering over the drape at her, and she sagged with relief at the grin on Mai’s face.
“Hey, Taylor,” Mai called. “Do you want to come meet your baby and cut the cord?”
Taylor’s head appeared above the drape, and he stared at Mai wide-eyed. She chuckled when she saw Sadie give him a little shove in her direction. The actor hesitantly made his way over to her, the anaesthetic nurse trailing him to make sure he didn’t touch anything he shouldn’t.
When he stood next to Mai, it made her feel like a kid, as he was six feet five to her five feet two.
The midwife gazed at Taylor. In the excitement of the premature baby being delivered, she obviously hadn’t realised who the father was, and was now overwhelmed in the presence of the Hollywood star.
Mai gazed at the nurse for a long moment, hoping she would pull it together and hand the scissors to Taylor. When she didn’t, Mai leaned over and grabbed them.
“Take some photos,” Clara yelled from the bed.
The anaesthetic nurse who had accompanied Taylor called back, “I’ve got your phone, Clara. I’ll take some.”
“Of the baby, not Taylor,” Sadie added with a chuckle, wagging her finger at the nurse, who blushed.
Taylor had that effect everywhere he went. Ford would now as well, Mai reminded herself.
She finally let her mind go back to his comment as she left the car. Had she heard him correctly? Did he say he would always wait for her?
Mai placed the scissors in Taylor’s hand and guided him to the umbilical cord. “It’s kind of like cutting calamari.”
His piercing blue eyes shot to hers. “Oh no, I hope not. I actually want to be able to eat calamari again.”
“Stop being squeamish,” Clara said from the bed.
Mai turned her head away to hide her smirk. Now that things had settled down with their baby, Clara was back to her usual self.
Taylor rolled his eyes.
“Did he just roll his eyes?” Clara asked.
Taylor looked guilty and glanced over to the bed. Mumbling to Mai, “I swear, sometimes she’s psychic.”
“No, he didn’t roll his eyes.” Mai winked at him as she lied. “Let’s get that cord cut, Taylor. Then we can get your son wrapped up and over to your wife.”
Taylor leaned forward and carefully cut the cord. His knuckles were white, and Mai could tell he was using all his acting ability to pretend this didn’t make him want to vomit.
When he was done, he handed the scissors back and stared down at his son. “He’s perfect,” he murmured. “Thanks for coming, Mai. It was turning into a mess.”
“Yeah. I heard. I’m glad I was close by.” Mai checked the baby again, who while small, had pinked up nicely, was breathing well and had a normal heart rate.
“What’s going on?” Clara called out.
Taylor glanced down at his son and across to where his wife was hidden behind the drapes. His eyes snagged on the surgery that was happening on Clara, and he went green.
Mai put her hand on his shoulder and turned him so he wasn’t facing his wife, who currently had two sets of surgeons’ hands inside her abdomen.
“Your baby’s fine,” Mai spoke loudly so Clara could hear.
“Is Taylor still on his feet?” Clara replied.
Mai snorted with laughter. “Just about.”
Taylor didn’t seem to care that he was being teased as he swallowed over and over, breathing deeply.
Sadie popped her head around the corner of the drapes again. “I’m not coming over. I’m not allowed to see the baby before Clara does.”
Mai looked back down at the baby. He was looking good enough to go across for a quick cuddle, but she definitely wanted him in the nursery overnight for monitoring.
The midwife, who had finally broken out of her stupor, slipped around to the front of the resuscitaire and efficiently put a nappy on Clara and Taylor’s baby.