And with those words Annie knew Caspar would win the argument. Kylie was already looking at him as if he could give her the moon—knowing that her husband was going to miss the birth of their babies had to be bothering her. If Caspar could solve that problem by taping the birth, not only for national television but for Kylie’s husband, then there was no way Kylie would kick him out of the delivery suite.
‘I’ll feel better if you are here, Dr St Claire.’ Kylie turned her head to look at Annie. ‘Can you imagine, Dr Simpson? My family on national telly.’
And just like that Annie found herself overruled. She knew she had to be a gracious loser and she didn’t have time to argue anyway. Her patient was her first priority, her only priority, and she had more pressing concerns—Kylie’s blood pressure for one—than whether or not her patient wanted her fifteen minutes of fame.
Annie forced herself to smile as she said, ‘Okay, then, let’s get you inside.’
CHAPTER THREE
THE CAMERA CREW arrived as Kylie was being shifted across onto a hospital bed. Caspar spoke to them quickly as they began to pull equipment from an assortment of bags and trolleys. Annie was relieved to see that there were only two men, as Caspar had told her, but she had no time to pay them any attention as she started to pull the curtains around the cubicle to give Kylie some privacy as they got her changed into a hospital gown.
‘Can you give us a minute?’ she asked Caspar as she closed the curtains, barely waiting for his nod in reply before she shut him and his crew out. Albeit temporarily. They’d barely got Kylie sorted before Caspar was back in the cubicle. He didn’t ask for permission, he simply got on with the job of attaching the foetal heart monitors to Kylie’s abdomen.
Annie was about to tell him she could manage but she bit back her sharp retort when she realised that if Phil had been the paediatrician in the cubicle instead of Caspar, she would have been grateful for his assistance. It wasn’t Caspar’s fault she didn’t know how to handle him. She was going to have to find a way though. For her patient’s sake.
People were bustling around Kylie and Annie shifted her attention away from Caspar’s long fingers, as he stuck electrodes onto their patient, and over to the monitor, which was now displaying Kylie’s BP. It had dropped since the paramedic’s report. It was now one-fifty over ninety. Still high but not dangerously so. Had Kylie just been apprehensive?
Annie knew that was possible. Going into early labour when your husband was thousands of miles away would be nerve-racking for most people, and looking at her patient now she certainly appeared more relaxed than when she’d arrived. Kylie was lying calmly, staring at Caspar as he finished attaching the electrodes and hooked her up to another monitor.
Maybe Kylie’s improved blood pressure had less to do with apprehension and more to do with the visiting specialist, Annie thought, and she just managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes. It seemed Caspar St Claire had this effect on all women, herself included, she admitted grudgingly, but if he was aware of the scrutiny he didn’t show any sign of discomfort.
The monitor was displaying two distinct foetal heartbeats. Caspar turned to Annie and gave her a thumbs-up accompanied by a big smile. He was the epitome of someone who was completely in control. He was composed and relaxed and Annie knew his demean-our would help Kylie.
It was time for Annie to take a leaf out of his book and get to work. She straightened her back as she finished drying her hands. She could do cool, calm and collected just as well as he could.
‘All right, Kylie,’ she said, as she took up her position at the foot of the bed. ‘I’ll need to do an internal exam to see what’s happening. Are you okay with that?’
Annie wondered if she’d need to tell the camera crew what was appropriate for them to film but at the moment they were concentrating on Kylie’s face and no doubt were including shots of Caspar’s handsome face too, just for good measure. Probably just as well. She supposed they knew what the viewers wanted to see and she’d bet they’d be happier looking at Caspar St Claire than anything she might be able to offer them.
Annie was surprised to find that, despite not reporting much discomfort, Kylie was already several centimetres dilated. She could see Kylie’s abdominal muscles ripple as a contraction ran through her. She checked that the nurse had recorded the time as she asked, ‘Have you been having contractions for a while?’
‘No. They only started after I called the hospital,’ Kylie answered.
‘Any other aches and pains?’
‘My back’s been a bit sore today but I spent the past couple of days cleaning the house so I think I just overdid it.’
‘Well, it seems that twin one is determined to arrive today. He’s in a good position and I’d say you’re well into the first stage of labour.’
‘Are you telling me I’m too late?’
Annie turned as Tori came into the room. ‘I actually wanted your opinion on giving Kylie an epidural to bring her blood pressure down, not for pain relief as such.’
Tori’s eyes flicked to the monitor, which showed one-forty over eighty-five. ‘Her BP looks okay.’
Annie nodded in agreement. ‘It’s lowered considerably since she arrived. Kylie is thirty-three weeks, in established labour with twins and coping well with discomfort.’
‘I’ll hang around for a bit if it’s a multiple birth, just in case,’ Tori said. ‘I assume you’ve got a theatre on standby?’
Annie nodded. She had a theatre reserved but she hoped she wouldn’t need it. She also hoped to avoid delivering the twins in the emergency department. She spoke to Caspar. ‘Where would you like me to deliver the twins—here or in a delivery suite in Maternity?’
‘I think the environment in Maternity is far more conducive to a relaxed birth,’ Caspar replied. ‘And it’s closer to the paediatric unit and the nursery. That gets my vote.’
‘It is much nicer in Maternity,’ Annie said to Kylie. ‘More space, windows, music. So if you’re okay with it I’ll just give you an injection that will help the babies’ lungs and then we’ll get this show on the road.’ She drew up a syringe of corticosteroids and injected it into Kylie before instructing the medical team, ‘All right, people, let’s get ready to move.’
It took less than ten minutes to get Kylie to Maternity but her labour had progressed rapidly and by the time they reached the delivery suite she was ready to push.
Annie managed to position herself so that Liam and his camera were behind her. That served a dual purpose—she could pretend he wasn’t there and the camera could only get pictures of the back of her head. But as she coached Kylie through the birth of the first baby she realised that Liam wasn’t interested in her anyway. Just as he’d done in Emergency, he concentrated on Kylie and Caspar.
Even though Annie had talked about the first twin in a masculine form, something she had a habit of doing unless she knew the sex, the first baby was a girl. She was small, with the familiar premmie appearance of too much skin and not enough padding, but perfectly proportioned with the right number of fingers and toes.
Caspar was standing by Annie’s shoulder as she delivered the baby. She couldn’t see him but she knew he was there. She could feel him. She turned slightly to give him the baby. He was ready and waiting, his hands reaching for the tiny newborn.
As he lifted the baby from Annie’s palms, the backs of his hands slid against her skin and Annie had the strangest sensation of heat exploding inside her. She’d noticed his smile had the ability to make her feel as though she was melting but his touch made her feel like she was combusting. How was that possible? Thank goodness