Had I known How to Save a Life

Listen To Me

Chapter 27
*Meredith POV*

No one wants to admit they need help. We like to believe that we are all capable of handling everything life throws our way. All on our own. We think that if we do it alone we are proving something. Surgeons especially don't like asking for help. We think of ourselves as badasses. Saving lives with a scalpel. When you try and offer help to someone, sometimes you just gotta say, "Shut the hell up and listen to me."

I didn't sleep at all last night. The baby would not stop kicking. And I'm getting contractions. I wish the baby would just listen to me when I try and talk to her. But she doesn't, so I'm sleep deprived more than I already am.

My day hasn't been rigorous, actually quite simple.

I go to the lounge to rest. I'm 29 weeks and she gives me the vibe that she wants to play soccer based on how much she kicks.

April is sitting on the couch so I sit next to her. "Hey Apes." I say.

"Hey Mer," she says. She sounds weird. She's nervous, her voice is shaky.

"Something up?" I ask.

She looks like she's about to say something but then she doesn't. "N-no, nothing. Nothing is up." She says.

"Okay. You sure? You seem tense." I say.

"Uh, I'm not tense. Just long shift. I was in surgery all night. C-can I ask you something?" She says.

"Yeah, of course." I say.

"I don't mean to get personal, but when did you and Derek decide to have another baby?" She says. I guess she wants to try with Jackson.

"Well, it wasn't very long after Derek came home from D.C. and he asked me if we could have more. I told him that he was crazy. But we did. Then the day he was in the accident, I found out I'm pregnant." I tell her.

Before she could say anything else we get paged to the ER.

We wait for the ambulance, Derek and Arizona are here too. So that means it's a kid.

The ambulance pulls up and Nicole the paramedic hops out. "Blake Waters, 17, collapsed on football field, suspected concussion and spinal cord injury and abdominal crush injuries."

"Alright let's take him to Trauma 1" Derek says.

"Blake, I'm Dr. Shepherd, can you wiggle your toes for me?" Derek says when we get into the trauma room.

April gets paged so she leaves. Ben is my resident again today, but I don't really need him so he's on my post ops.

"I-I don't know if they're moving. Are they moving?" Blake says.

"No, no they're not. But I'm going to find out what's wrong and we're going to do our best." Derek tells him.

I do my exam.

There's tenderness around McBurney's point and his spleen.

"How hard were you hit?" I ask him.

"Hard. I was at the bottom of a dog pile. I got sacked, then the pile started." He says.

"Okay well, it feels like you have internal bleeding around your spleen and appendix." I say.

"Let's take him to the Lodox. I want to find everything that's going on." Derek says.

"I'm not going to be paralyzed right? I'm 17. I need to get a scholarship." He says.

"Listen to me, we are going to do everything we can. Hopefully we can reverse this paralysis." Derek tells him.

We get him into the Lodox and 13 seconds later we get everything we need.

He definitely has a concussion. But the there's blood compressing his spinal cord causing his paralysis. I think I'm going to need to take his appendix out. I don't think his spleen got it too badly. Hopefully all we have to do there is a simple fix.

"I need to take that appendix out." I tell Derek.

"Okay, well I need to get the pressure relieved from is spine. You can go first since an Appy is quick and easy." Derek says.

I was done pretty quick. But I stayed to watch Derek. He made me sit down though.
*April POV*

My heart pounds. I don't know if I can handle this. I already lost one baby. I can't handle that again. I pace back and forth in the bath room of the Attendings Lounge. I lock the door. I pull 3 pregnancy tests out from my lab coat pocket. I'm late, I'm never late. My boobs hurt.

I pee on the 3 sticks. I set a timer on my phone for 5 minutes.

*5 minutes later*

Tears run down my face. But I can't stop smiling.

*Jackson POV*

I feel like April and I need to have some fun. I pick up a box of pizza and a movie. If she doesn't like the movie, we can find something on Netflix.

I walk through the door. April is sitting on the couch with tears running down her eyes.

"April what's wrong?" I ask immediately.

I walk over to her and I giver her a hug and kiss her on the head. "Hey what's going on?" I ask her again.

"Uh...I need to tell you something, and I need you to tell me everything is going to be okay."

"Whatever is going on, I promise that it'll be okay. Okay?" I say.

I sit down with her and hold her. Her tears are on my shirt. She stands up, and takes my hands. She guides it to her stomach and places her hand over mine.

Oh my, God.

"Jackson, I'm pregnant." She says as her voice breaks.

I stand up. My face lights up. "Are you serious. You're pregnant?" I say in shock.

"Yes. Jackson, yes." I say. She shows me a picture of an ultrasound she got today.

I wrap my arms around her. I pick her up and spin her around. I pull her in for a long kiss.

I get on my knees and I kiss her stomach right where I guess the baby is.

She tells me that she's still scared. "Hey listen to me, everything will be okay. I promise. We'll do everything we can to make sure what happened last time doesn't again. I love you." I tell her.

"I love you too." She says.

*Meredith POV*

Arizona and Derek were able to fix his spine. But Blake does still have a concussion that needs to be monitored.

Derek and I pick up the kids from daycare and head home. I wince in pain from the contractions that I'm having.

"Meredith, I need you to listen to me, you need to take it easy okay?" He says.

He's right. I can ignore pain all I want, but it's still going to be there.

When people offer help, hear them out. Listen to what they save to say. In the world of medicine, it might just save your life one day.