I Believe in You

Heart in a Box

Around twenty nine weeks pregnant I finally regained some energy but Conrad insisted that I still start reducing my hours the next week.
Despite that Conrad and I still took the time to go out to Henry Barnett's little league game.
Henry was Jasper Barnett's big brother; Jasper passed away from pediatric cancer just over two months before.
Conrad stood behind Henry showing him how to swing the bat before it was hit turn to bat. It warmed my heart to see him interact with this young boy. Our daughter was due in eleven weeks and he constantly showed me what an amazing father he was going to be to our little girl. He walked back to where Zoey and I were watching the game and kissed me before standing with Zoey at the fence while I sat in a chair near his side. Henry hit the pitch and ran around the bases coming all the way back to home for a homerun. Suddenly I noticed Henry didn't look right standing out on home plate.
"Conrad." I said his name standing up next to him breaking through the euphoria of his first homerun as Henry fell.
Even at twenty nine weeks pregnant I was fast enough to keep up with my husband as we ran across the field to where he lay convulsing.
"He's having a seizure." Conrad said as he slid in the dirt near him.
I knelt down placing my right hand under his head to stop it from slamming into the ground with every convulsion.
"Ambulance is five out." He tells me as Henry's seizure subsides.
Zoey stood near us in a clear panic as her son laid now motionless in the dirt.
I took his pulse and monitored his respiration rate the best I could by sight and feeling while I checked his eyes for peitical hemorrhaging.
The ambulance came and Conrad helped the paramedics get Henry onto the stretcher.
"Go on." I urged him as Zoey climbed into the ambulance after her son.
"Are you sure?" Conrad asked touching my arm.
"We'll drive straight to the hospital. We're right behind you." I insisted touching my stomach gingerly.
"And you're sure she's okay?" He touched my stomach and she promptly kicked him.
"We're fine. Go. Save his life, Dr. Hawkins." I smiled.
"Hurry and help me, Dr. Hawkins." He teased weakly.
I nudged him forward into the ambulance and rushed to the car.
I visited Alex in obstetrics and gynecology to check on my daughter before joining Conrad in Henry's hospital room.
"The baby's fine." She assured me.
"Heart rate one forty three. Completely normal. She's very active.
"Look, Meghan. I get that you're a doctor but you're also an expectant mother. You need to be cautious. She's fine but you need to be more careful." She reminded me.
"I know, Alex. Thank you." I sighed.
"I'm serious, Meghan." She narrowed her eyes at me.
"I will be more careful."
"Good. Go on." She smiled and waved me off.
I took the elevator down to the hospital's main floor. I found Devon looking disheveled at the nurses station.
"Rough day?" I asked.
When he looked up at me he had a black eye.
"Oh my God. What happened?"
"Some tweaker was all riled up when the paramedics brought him in. Punched me in the face." He sighed.
"I've gotta find Conrad. Find me later and we'll talk, okay?"
"Sure. Conrad's with the Barnett's in one-o-six."
"Thank you." I smiled reassuringly at him and walked down the hallway towards the room.
"Took you long enough." Conrad almost growled at me when I walked in glancing at Henry sleeping in the hospital bed and his mother watching him anxiously in the chair beside the bed.
"I went up to see Alex to check on our daughter. I get that you're worried about Henry but that doesn't give you an excuse to snap at me." I hissed right back.
He shook his head and looked up at me apologetically.
"Julian and Bell just left. They crowded around him like a pack of vultures the minute we got here. They told her that if we can't get the seizures under control he'll suffer brain damage. They want to implant a QuoVadis Vagus Nerve Stimulator, VNS device to control the seizures." He sighed.
"And our concern about that is?" I asked resting my hand on my bump.
"They're new devices, widely untested. No proof that they're safe. Bell's only thinking about the profit and not how these devices can malfunction in the body of a child." He complained.
"What does Zoey think?" I asked leaning against the wall.
"She's emotionally compromised." He sighed.
"She's his mom, Conrad. She doesn't want him on three different seizure medications. Ultimately there's nothing we can do if she wants to do this." I sighed.
"I know. I'm sorry I snapped at you." He reached for my hand which I gave him.
"You have to remember that I'm creating a whole new human. Our daughter. I have to put her first. I can't be a doctor first anymore."
"I know, babe. I know."
"I need to lay down." I sighed wobbling slightly.
"Are you okay?" He asked anxiously standing up to support me.
"My head hurts. I feel a migraine coming on." I sighed leaning into him.
We retired to the sleeping quarters. Conrad laid on his back so I could lay on my left side pressed cautiously against his side with my head on his chest.
I didn't wake up when Conrad got out of the bed.
I didn't wake up when Devon came into see me.
I didn't wake up until Conrad shook my shoulder gently.
"What's wrong?" I muttered softly when I saw the panicked expression on his face.
"Devon said he couldn't wake you." He sighed before kissing my forehead.
"You know how deeply I sleep when I have a migraine."
"I know. I just panicked."
"How's Henry?" I asked closing my eyes again.
My migraine hadn't fully subsided yet.
"Zoey elected for the VNS surgery. He's out and seems to be doing well." He answered gently running his fingers through my hair.
"Crisis averted." I sighed settling back into the mattress.
"For now." He said.