SOMETHING UNEXPECTED

Chapter 23

Tim's POV

I was on patrol with Aaron when my phone rang. It was Tamara and I knew that she was out with Lucy today, they probably just wanted to know if they should bring something for me from the shops or what I wanted to eat tonight, as we wasn't on a call right now I answered my phone.

Ti: Hey, I'm on patrol, so be quick, what's up Tamara?
Ta: Tim, promise me to not freak out.
Ti: Why should I freak out? Is everything okay with Lucy and the babies? And you?
Ta:I'm okay but the thing with Lucy is where my problem comes in so I say it's not okay but Lucy says it's okay. She didn't want me to call you either, which is why I have to hide in the hospital bathroom to call you without her knowing...
Ti: Tamara did you just say hospital? Why are you in the hospital? What happened?
Ta: We were doing some girls stuff in town and when we were going back to the car, Lucy stopped. I could tell she was in pain. She said her baby bump was hard and hurt, just like her back. She actually just wanted to go home but I insisted on going to the hospital.
Ti: It's good that you insisted on going to the hospital. I'll come and see you both straight away. Which hospital are you in?
Ta: I don't know what it's called but I'll send you my location.

Tamara hung up and sent me her location.
"Tim, is everything okay with Lucy?" Aaron asked me with a worried look.

"I don't know. Her stomach hurt and has become hard. We're going to the hospital right now. I need to know that she and our sons are okay."
I turned on the sirens and drove to the hospital.
I parked at the hospital and Tamara met us at the entrance. Lucy was in a treatment room being examined, Tamara told us.

I knocked on the door of the treatment room and then went in.
Aaron and Tamara were waiting in the waiting room.
Lucy was lying in a hospital bed and a doctor was standing next to the bed doing an ultrasound.
"Babe, are you okay?" I came to her bedside and took her hand.
Lucy had tears in her eyes and kept looking worriedly at the doctor who was looking intently at the ultrasound screen.
I kissed her on the head and sat down in the chair next to her without letting go of her hand, looking at the ultrasound screen.

The doctor looked at us and started talking. "At first it was difficult to make out the heartbeat of the second baby on the ultrasound, but I found it. Both babies' heartbeats are stable at the moment but the second baby seems to have an extra heart murmur. He also seems to be a little smaller and lighter than he should be at this week of pregnancy. I will discuss the results of the ultrasound with the pediatric cardiologist and prenatal specialist. They will then come to your room and carry out further examinations and discuss the next steps with you. The good thing is that you are only showing very slight contraction activity, where normally nothing needs to be done as these are practice contractions. We would still give you a medication that inhibits labor so that there is no contraction activity anymore because the ultrasound showed that this slight contraction activity has already stressed the second baby very much and we want to make sure that nothing happens to him. Are you okay with that Ms. Chen?"

Lucy nodded "Yes, I agree with that medication. Is this extra heart murmur very bad?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that yet, we'll need several tests to find out how serious it is. Sometimes these heart murmurs aren't bad and the baby will outgrow it, but sometimes you have to do something to prevent the baby's heart from being damaged too badly or that it will becoming life-threatening. It always depends on what the cause of the extra heart murmur is."
Lucy just nodded and the doctor prepared an infusion with the labor inhibitor.
He attached the infusion to Lucy and then left the room.

Lucy immediately burst into tears as the door slammed shut.
I wiped Lucy's tears away and climbed into the hospital bed to give her a hug.
I put a hand on her baby bump and stroked it slowly.
"Luce... Babe...I'm here and it's going to be okay. You are the strongest woman I know and I know that our sons both will get through this if they are half as strong as you are. We will get through this together as a family."
"I'm scared Tim...and I'm sorry" Lucy sobbed in my arms.
"I'm scared and worried too but I just have faith that everything will be okay and it's not as bad as it sounds right now. What are you sorry about?" I asked her and wiped away her tears.
"That I didn't want to call you and that I didn't even want to go to the hospital."
"You don't have to be sorry, I'm more sorry that I have to admit to Tamara that she made the right decision by driving you here and secretly calling me without your knowledge and that Tamara will probably never let me forget that I said she did something good." I said and Lucy laughed slightly.

"I'll give Grey a quick call and inform him of the situation. I'll also send Aaron back to the station and instruct him to drive Tamara home." I informed Lucy before leaving the room to call Grey.
I then went to Aaron and Tamara and informed them both that we had to wait for further tests and that it didn't look like Lucy would be allowed to go home today.
Aaron drove Tamara home and then back to the station.
I went back to Lucy and we waited together for the doctors. The minutes seemed like hours as we waited.
Finally the door opened and three doctors entered the room and greeted us.
"Good afternoon Ms. Chen and Mr. Bradford. I am Dr. Montana, the prental specialist. The one next to me is Dr. Lougaro the pediatric cardiologist and Dr. Gendlous the pediatric cardiac surgeon. We looked at your medical records and the results of the ultrasound that just came out. We already have an idea of what it might be but we're going to do some more tests to be sure and then we'll be able to give you a diagnosis and what are the treatment options."

Lucy and I both nodded and the doctors started with the further examinations.