Black Rose

Forty Three

As Melrose laid on the operating table, all types of worrisome thoughts ran through her head. What if something goes wrong while delivering my babies? What if they cut something that wasn't supposed to be touch? Her mind was racing while Raine stood next to her, holding her hand, trying not to cry himself. On the way to the hospital, the twins' heartbeats started slowing down for unknown reasons as of yet and Melrose was prompted to get an emergency C-section immediately. Every second wasted was dangerous to the babies. The epidural barely set in before Dr. Lauren went to slicing Melrose's stomach, so she did feel the excruciating pain for a while. For thirty agonizing minutes, the unknown of their babies' condition ate at their souls. Just as Melrose was calming down, she saw two nurses rush out of the room cradling what she knew were her babies in her arms. It sent her into panic mode.

"What's wrong? Where is she going with my babies, Raine?" The monitor next to her started beeping rapidly, which signaled her heart rate rising excessively.

"Melrose, sweetie, we're gonna need you to calm down alright." Julie, the nurse's assistant hurried over to her. "They're fine. Your twins are fine alright? She's going to clean them up. Isn't that right, Mr. Mercier?"

"She's right, Mel." Raine chimed in, realizing what the nurse was trying to do. "If you want to see them, you have to relax so Dr. Lauren and her team can finish working on you."

"But, they didn't cry, Raine. I know something is wrong." She cried. Melrose wasn't an idiot by far. She's aware of the complications the twins face since they came earlier than expected.

"Don't you want to find out why? Don't you want to be there for them when they need us the most?" He interrogated. She nodded, unable to speak at the moment. "Well then you're gonna have to be strong for them right now. We've made it this far to give up, so try to relax until we're able to see them."

Another twenty minutes went by before she was stitched up and being taken to a private room of her own. Raine paid extra for a spacious room with a tub inside and a pull-out couch for him to sleep on. Mel was now dozing off as her body was winding down from the process of giving birth. Raine called down to the lobby to tell everyone that it would be a while before any visitors can come up due to the babies severe condition.

Hours and hours fled by without a word from anyone. The time was now eight at night and the couple had grown infuriated with everyone on the staff. Raine stood up from his spot next to Mel's bed and stormed towards the door, ready to get some people fired. At the same time, the door opened revealing Dr. Lauren with exhaustion written on her face.

"Mr. Mercier, I want to sincerely apologize for the long wait. May I come in? I'd like to speak with you two about the current status of the twins." He stepped to the side, letting her walk pass him into the room. He didn't care about her apology. He just wanted to see his children.

"Dr. Lauren, why haven't anyone been in here to check on me? Let alone give us an update on my babies?" Melrose queried. She wanted so badly to charge at the woman but the pain in her stomach wouldn't allow her to. "My pain medication numbed off an hour ago. I buzzed for a nurse to come in here and nobody came. What is going on in here today?"

"Melrose, I am very sorry about the hold up. The hospital is understaffed today for reasons I'm trying to figure out myself. As you know I don't work here, but I will have a nurse come in here and take care of you right now." She grabbed a walkie talkie from her hip and ordered a nurse in the room stat. Once that was done, she opened Melrose's file to make sure everything is correct. "Alright, so as you know the twins were born twelve weeks early and that puts them at risk of complications such as neither of them were breathing on their own because the umbilical cord was wrapped around their necks. That's why we rushed them to the NICU to get them hooked on breathing tubes. Currently, they still aren't breathing on their own, but we are monitoring them carefully and routinely. I-"