Meet me in the Middle

Chapter 16

I watch on in horror as a flying object hits Maya over the head for the second time and she slumps down onto her patient while making their way into the ER. Dr. Hunt pulls Captain Beckett away from the patient and I try to get Maya's attention.

It takes a few tries and when she finally lifts her head after I unintentionally call her bambina, the breath escapes my lungs, and I have to fight to keep myself calm. There is a thin stream of blood dripping from her hairline over her right eye. She pulls herself up and allows us to take her patient to the OR.

Dr. Hunt, Dr. Wilson and I stand next to each other rushing through our scrubbing process, knowing the patient already lost a lot of time. I'm done first and run into the OR to check their vitals. Mama's heartrate and blood pressure are extremely low, and I order a blood transfusion. The fetal heartbeat is too fast, and I curse when I try to do a sonar and the liquid in her uterus fully obscures my view of the baby.

"Mama is losing a lot of blood. She seems to be going into shock. Push one of epi so long, let's see if we can get that BP up. Wilson, we're going to need to do an emergency C-section. This baby needs to get out now." I lift the cloth the scrub nurses have thrown over her belly and see a large bruise forming across her ribs and over her protruding belly.

What concerns me the most is that her belly looks disformed, which means the baby is in serious distress. Jo makes the first incision just as Amelia runs into the room. She makes her way over to the mama, look up at her vitals and start doing a neuro exam.

"Her left pupil is blown. Is she stable enough to go up for a CT yet?" She feels around her head and inspects the cut on her temple. "The bambino is the most critical at the moment. We need to get him out so we can have a visual of the bleed to try and stop it." The neurosurgeon looks at her watch then at the progress Dr. Wilson has made so far.

"Dr. Declan, let's get started on Burr holes. Page me when she is stable enough for a CT, they should be finishing up with Maya soon over there." My gaze shoots up to meet her eyes upon hearing my wife's name while the neuro fellow gets his instruments ready to start the procedure he's done hundreds of times.

"Sorry. I thought you knew. She collapsed almost as soon as she entered the ER. She took what seems to be a brick and a glass bottle to the head. I believe it's just a concussion, but I sent her up to make sure there wasn't any other damage." I take a big breath and release it, glad that Maya was going to be okay. Amelia assures me that she's going to go check on Maya and will let me know if the scans show anything abnormal.

Jo asks for assistance in delivering the baby. As soon as she cut through the last layer to get to the uterus, blood started gushing out of the mama in gallons. Dr. Hunt starts packing the wound to control the bleeding, while Jo and I get the baby out.

"Page Dr. Shepard and Dr. Karev 911." Jo cuts the umbilical cord and I take the baby to a separate smaller table. I order Jo to help the mama, since she used to be a general surgeon attending and would be of better assistance finding the bleed in the pool of scarlet filling her abdomen.

I fight back the bile pushing up my throat. The bambino's tiny little head has a big dent in it, most likely caused by the crush injuries his mama sustained. Her attackers must've hit her right in the spot his head was positioned at.

I had just intubated the tiny human when Dr. Karev and Amelia came running into the OR at the same time. They take over chest compressions and I move back to Jo and the mama, trusting the skilled surgeons with the new-born.

Dr. Hunt and Jo were still desperately scooping out blood to try and gain some visibility to find the bleed. I push my hands into her uterus and feel around. Dr. Wilson and I stop for a second and look at each other, both deciding on our next course of action with a silent conversation.