Halcyon

Maternity Unit

Jack arrives home in record time, he pulls up outside the house and climbs out and heads towards the front door and locks the door before unlocking the front door. He kicks the door shut as he enters the house and he heads straight into the lounge.

He finds Nikki sat on the sofa clutching a hot water bottle, "Hey you" Jack smiles making himself known to Nikki who has her back to him.
"Hey yourself" She smiles happily as she turns around to look at Jack.
"How are you feeling?" Jack questions as he walks around the sofa and sits beside her.

"As good as you can when you're 40 weeks pregnant... I've cleaned up where my waters went, I have locked up too... just wanted five minutes of peace before we go back through the entire baby thing again" She smiles.

Jack smiles and rests his hand on her knee, "Do you want to go to the hospital then?" He questions.
She nods and passes the hot water bottle to Jack, she slowly stands herself up, holding the arch of her back, "Here we go again, round two" She smiles before making her way to the front door.

He takes the hot water bottle into the kitchen and places it on the work surface before grabbing a phone charger from the side and heading back through to her. Jack grabs the hospital bag and his car keys before they both leave the house, He locks the front door as Nikki gets into the car.

Jack joins Nikki in the car and smiles at her happily, "Ready? I promise to drive carefully" He chuckles knowing how sensitive Nikki's bladder has become recently.

They finally arrive at the hospital and they head straight for the maternity unit where they walk up to the reception desk. "Hi... my partner her waters have broken... erm around forty-five minutes ago," Jack speaks to the receptionist nervously as he has never gone through this part of parenthood before.

The receptionist looks at Jack and then at Nikki and nods, "What's your name love?" She questions look at Nikki.
Nikki who is now holding Jack's hand takes a breath to steady herself through a contraction, "Nicola Alexander" She replies.

The receptionist types away on her computer before locating Nikki's name and calling through to the maternity unit, "Okay hold on here, a midwife will be through to you now" She smiles.
"Thank you" Jack smiles happily.

They hear a long buzz and out walks a midwife dressed in a light blue tunic and dark blue lining around her uniform indicating she is a 'band six midwife'. "Hiya, you must be Nicola..." the young midwife smiles who has a very strong Gordie accent. "I am Jessica" She adds with a cheerful smile as she takes the couple through and onto the unit.

She walks them to a small side room and turns the lights on before walking in. "So tell me about yourself" Jessica smiles as she allows Nikki to sit on the bed and make herself comfortable.

"So I am 40 weeks and three days pregnant, erm... the baby had both a ventricular septal defect and atrial septal defect both have been noted to be healing up nicely." Nikki begins as she watches Jessica pull out a small iPad styled device and starts to tap away.

"Okay, that's good, and are you Dad?" She asks looking at Jack.
"Yes" He replies with a nod, she mumbles away to herself as she types on the iPad. "I want one of those at work, would make crime scenes much more fun" Jack chuckles who clearly doesn't amuse Nikki.

"So tell me, contractions... how frequent?" Jessica asks.
"Erm... last time I properly timed it I would say five minutes and a half? but they seem much closer together now" Nikki explains keeping herself calm during another contraction which felt even longer than the one before.

Nikki kicks off her vans trainers and puts her legs up on the bed for more comfort, "Okay, so I shall examine you in a moment, so is this your first baby?" Jessica asks the couple.

"No actually, our second... we have a three-year-old daughter together, Poppy" Jack replies with a smile.

Jessica smiles as she leans on the table at the end of the bed and looks at Nikki, "How was your pregnancy and birth with your daughter?"
"Good actually, better than this one by a mile, that's why Jack thinks I'm having a boy" Nikki replies.

"Oh really?" She smirks looking at Jack who nods, "Do you know the gender?" She questions as she grabs a set of purple gloves, they both shake their heads at her question. "Okay, no Nicola.." She is cut off by Nikki.

"Just call me Nikki, you make it sound like I am back at school... Nikki is fine" She smiles

"Okay then Nikki, if you could pop your trousers and pants off I shall do a quick examination"

Jack helps Nikki off the bed and pulls her trousers down for her and allows Nikki to pull her underwear down too. He then helps her back and onto the bed before taking a seat in the armchair located next to the bed.