HERMAPHRODITE

▪️▪️▪️CH. 24▪️▪️▪️

Both doctors swung into action. While Jimin scrubbed and put on surgical gloves Hoseok gently removed Jungkook's briefs, keeping the young man's modesty intact by covering him with a small green cloth. The gauze pad was also removed and a fresh one put in place. The used gauze was dropped into a kidney dish to evaluate how much blood loss had occurred. The betadine followed and Kook was carefully cleaned in preparation for the examination.

Hoseok rolled the ultrasound machine over to the examination bed whilst Jimin eased Kookie onto his back. Kookie's belly was slicked with gel as the machine powered up and Hoseok handed the sound head over to Jimin who immediately pressed it to Kook's abdomen. The screen flickered as the images came up. Carefully maneuvering the sound head around, Jimin located the uterus and its precious contents.

Meanwhile, Hoseok fetched a fetal monitor and strapped it to Kookie's belly, out of the way of the area Jimin was checking. Once in place he turned to the small machine that the monitor's cables were attached to and switched it on. The sound of a rapid heartbeat filled the room and Hoseok quickly noted down the numbers appearing on the LCD screen. At the sound of the racing heartbeat, Tae looked up, concern etched on his face.

"It's a fetal monitor, Taehyungie," said Hoseok. "It lets us listen to the baby's heartbeat and keep an eye on the child's vital signs."

"And?" Tae questioned. He wanted more information, the 'not knowing' was getting to him.

"The heart rate is a little faster than we would like, but it isn't extreme."

"Meaning?"

"The baby is experiencing a little distress but not a significant amount."

"And Kookie?"

"Not sure yet, Tae," replied Jimin as he moved the sound head around. "I can see the baby and although the heart rate is higher than normal, it doesn't appear to be in any immediate danger. Now I need to try and find the placenta and see if my diagnosis is correct..."

"There," said Hoseok suddenly. "Move back just a fraction."

Jimin concentrated hard, moving the sound head slightly back and finding the placenta.

"That's the edge of the placenta there, now, see if you can follow it around," ordered Hoseok, his eyes glued to the monitor.

Jimin did as his hyung and fellow doctor asked, slowly progressing across Kookie's lower belly, following the bumpy outline of the placenta.

"Hold it." Hoseok squinted at the screen. "I think that's it."

Jimin also peered at the monitor. "I think you're right. Let's see if we can magnify this up a bit."

Hoseok fiddled with the dials on the ultrasound machine and the screen flickered off and then returned, this time the picture was larger and the two doctors were able to see a little more clearly.

"That's definitely it," said Jimin quietly. "See here," he pointed to the monitor. Taehyung was up and out of his seat, swiftly moving to stand by the machine and see what it was that the doctors had found. He couldn't make head nor tail out of the black and white lines on the screen. "If you look closely, this is the edge of the placenta," Jimin explained as he ran his pen along a darkened line. "So far it looks normal. When we get here though, it changes. It's definitely a placental abruption." He continued to move the sound head around, determining just how much of the placenta had begun to separate. Every now and then he hit a button and figures came up on the monitor.

Taehyung continued to observe, frightened to say anything but terrified that his lover was going to lose their baby.  He stepped back, falling back into his seat, fear for his lover and unborn child running rampant in his mind.