a minute he could see there was no difference. She was barely lucid and he needed to administer a synthetic form of the hormone that would naturally assist, but that was on the other side of the closed elevator doors with the paramedics. It wasn’t something he carried in his medical bag. Not now anyway. Once he would have had everything he now needed to save Claudia—but that was a lifetime ago.
‘Claudia—’ he ceased the massage momentarily and patted her hand ‘—I need you to try to feed one of the boys. It will help to stimulate a hormone that will lessen the bleeding. Do you understand?’
‘Uh-huh,’ she muttered while trying to keep her eyes from closing. ‘I feel so light-headed.’
‘That’s the blood loss. I’m going to do everything I can to stop it until help arrives, but again we need to work together. You’ll be on your way to hospital very soon.’
He reached down and gently unwrapped the babies and, picking up the larger of the twins, he lifted Claudia’s tank top and bra and placed him onto her breast. Instinctively the baby latched onto his mother and began to suckle while Patrick continued the massaging.
‘Do you have any names for the boys?’ he asked, trying to keep Claudia focused as he dealt with the medical emergency that was unfolding before his eyes.
She tried to think but the names weren’t there. They were special names and they should have spilled out without any effort but she was befuddled, which wasn’t her. ‘I think...’ She paused momentarily as the names she had chosen now seemed strangely out of reach. She blinked to bring herself back on track. ‘Thomas...and Luca...after each of their great-grandpas.’
‘I think they are strong names for two little fighters. Is this baby Thomas or Luca?’
Claudia smiled down at her son, still attached to her breast but not really sucking successfully. ‘Thomas...but I think he’s tired already and a bit too small.’
‘I think you’re right on both counts.’
‘I’m feeling quite dizzy again.’ She paused as she felt herself wavering and her vision was starting to blur. Fear was mounting again inside her. ‘Am I going to die?’
‘No, you’re going to pull through and raise your two sons until they are grown men.’
Claudia felt weaker by the minute. She knew there was something very serious happening, even though she couldn’t see the blood. ‘If I don’t make it...’
‘You will,’ he argued as he reached for Thomas, who was unable to suckle, and placed him safely on the floor beside his brother, Luca.
She closed her eyes for a moment. She felt too weak to fight. ‘You need to contact my sister, Harriet. Her details are in my phone. She needs to be there for my boys if I can’t be.’
‘Claudia, listen to me. You’re going to make it, but I’m going to have to do something very uncomfortable for you.’
‘What?’ she asked in a worried whisper.
‘I’m going to compress your uterus with my hands. It will further slow the bleeding.’
She nodded but she felt as if she was close to drifting off to sleep. ‘If you have to, then do it.’
‘Try to stay awake,’ he pleaded with her as he attempted to manually compress the uterus with the firm pressure of his hands.
Minutes passed but still the blood was flowing over his hands to the floor beneath her. Claudia needed to be in a hospital and she needed to be there now. This was something more serious than the usual postpartum blood loss.
She was dangerously close to losing consciousness as he gently removed his hands. The manual pressure could not stop the bleeding. Claudia needed surgical intervention if she was to survive. He reached for the films and ripped open the envelope. The films scattered on the floor but, as he grabbed the report, his worst fears were confirmed. Claudia’s placenta had invaded the walls of her uterus. Every part of his body shuddered. It was déjà vu. The prognosis was identical to what he had faced all those years ago. There was no way her obstetrician would have allowed her to board a plane with the condition. Claudia would have delivered her sons in America, whether it had been this day or another.
With a heavy heart, he dropped his gloves and the report to the floor and pulled a barely conscious Claudia into his arms, where he held her while he stroked the faces of the little boys lying on the floor beside them. If help didn’t arrive within a few minutes he would lose Claudia.
And her two tiny babies would never know their beautiful, brave mother.
AS CLAUDIA’S BODY suddenly fell limp in Patrick’s arms, he heard the doors open behind him and instantly felt a firm grip on his bare shoulder.
‘We’ve got it from here,’ the deep voice said.
Patrick turned his head to see a full medical team rushing towards them. He had never been happier in his life than he was at that moment and, with adrenaline surging through his veins, he immediately began firing instructions at lightning speed. The miracle Claudia needed had arrived at the moment he had run out of options.
‘We’re dealing with a postpartum haemorrhage—she needs Syntocinon immediately and a catheter inserted so that the uterus has a better chance of contracting with an empty bladder. If she doesn’t stabilise she’ll be looking at a transfusion. Forget cross-matching as there may not be time; just start plasma now and have O negative waiting in OR.’
Patrick moved away as the medical team stepped in to begin the treatment he had ordered. Immediately they inserted an IV line, began a plasma transfusion then administered some pain relief and Syntocinon in an attempt to stop Claudia’s bleeding while another two paramedics collected the baby boys and left the elevator with them securely inside portable humidicribs.
‘Any idea why she’s still bleeding?’ the attending doctor asked.
‘Placenta accreta,’ Patrick said as he reached for the films lying on the floor. He kept his voice low so he would not alarm Claudia. ‘I checked the report on the ultrasound films. Only a very small amount of the placenta was delivered and the rest is still firmly entrenched in the uterus wall. If the report is correct, she may be looking at a surgery but a complete hysterectomy should be the surgeon’s last option. I doubt she’s more than late twenties, if that, so she might like to keep her womb.’
‘I’m sure they’ll proceed conservatively if they can.’
Patrick nodded. He had no idea what the future would hold for Claudia and he wanted her to have every choice possible. ‘The boys appear fine but they’ll need a thorough examination with the paediatrician,’ Patrick continued, not taking his eyes from Claudia. ‘One is a little smaller than the other but let’s hope there’s no underlying issues with their premature arrival.’
‘You did a remarkable job, all things considered,’ the paramedics told Patrick as they watched the barely conscious Claudia being lifted onto the gurney and then securely but gently strapped in.
Keeping his attention on Claudia, who was beginning to show signs of being lucid, the doctor added, ‘And you, young lady, are very lucky this man was sharing the elevator. It would not have been this outcome without him, that’s for certain. You and your boys all owe your lives to him.’
Claudia smiled a meek smile and held out her hand in an effort to show her gratitude. Patrick cupped it gently in his own strong hands and smiled back at her then he turned to the attending doctor. ‘I’ll be travelling side-saddle to the hospital if there’s room.’
‘There’s definitely room.’
* * *
For a little over three hours, Patrick divided his time between pacing the corridors outside Recovery and visiting the Neonatal Intensive Care