An Unexpected Request

Chapter 47

Knowing that she probably would not get the information she needed from the hospital staff walking the floors, Sophie made a beeline for the reception desk. Before she reached her destination, though, it was with relief that she noticed Dominique's quick approach after the woman stepped out of one of the elevators. Seeing her, the obstetrician jerked her head toward a farther corner in the corridor.

"For God's sake, tell me their real condition!" Sophie immediately asked.

"Alive," the other woman quickly blurted out the crucial information. "I'm sorry for the lack of details, but it was a race against time, and I didn't want to premeditate anything..."

The doctor in Sophie nodded in understanding, but the friend in her was eager for answers. And this was the one who insisted:

"What happened? We heard there were complications, and Andy was in surgery. However, in the private room, Miranda said she had lost both of them. She kept repeating that Andy was gone. Miranda was still a little slow, true, but yet, we were terrified. That much I went out looking for explanations..."

Dominique sighed, running a hand through her curly hair, still tied back in a messy bun.

"Andy really was gone for a few moments... With the placental abruption, she had a massive hemorrhage. Her pressure and heart rate dropped drastically, and Andy suffered a cardiac arrest..."

"In front of Miranda..."

Dominique just nodded, frowning.

"God..." Sophie muttered in a strangled voice, imagining the editor's despair.

"Miranda was pulled out of the delivery room by two nurses who came to support whereas the rest of the team and I worked on Andy..."

"With the shock and confusing scenes she watched, Miranda imagined the worst..." Sophie elaborated, finally putting the pieces together. "And sedated, fear was instilled in her mind..."

The doctors were silent for a while.

After a heavy sigh, Dominique continued:

"What I feared most happened... Ever since I found out about the situation surrounding this pregnancy, I have always made clear my concern about stress. Andy was under enormous pressure from the press, the emotional weight of the girls' disease, plus being the first pregnancy of a very emotional person..."

Sophie nodded, smiling lovingly at the memory of her friend's huge heart.

Dominique smiled in sympathy, and then her face hardened again.

"Andy is young, and until then, she was in excellent health, but I was worried about this entire burden. We know there is no way to diagnose placental abruption, and apart from genetic and chemical factors, which were never the case, stress is the great villain. Andy even had a small bleed earlier, which made us even more alert. Fortunately, it was nothing more than a scare."

Sophie nodded. She well remembered everyone's apprehension.

"When Andy quit her job and completely distanced herself from any external source of annoyance, I felt calmer. Barring one more scare in the episode of the marrow bone for the twins, Andy was fine, the pregnancy proceeding as expected. The antedate of the C-section was just one more precaution since the child would be in a safe stage of development. Even with the baby taking us by surprise, everything was going well. Andy was already in an advanced condition for childbirth, so the couple thought it best to go with the natural procedure," Dominique sighed, once again running a hand through her hair. "I should have insisted on the C-section..."