He sat going through her charts. Hannah’s blood pressure was at the higher limits of normal and Anton wondered for a long moment how best to proceed. While the uterus was usually the best incubator, there were times when the baby was safest out. He had more than a vested interested in this pregnancy and he told Hannah that. ‘Do you know you will be the first patient that I have ever helped both to conceive through IVF and deliver their baby?’
‘No.’ Hannah frowned. ‘I thought in your line of work that that would happen to you all the time.’
‘No.’ Anton shook his head. ‘Remember how upset you were when I first saw you because the doctor you had been expecting was sick on the day of your egg retrieval?’
Hannah nodded and actually blushed. ‘I was very rude to you.’
‘Because you didn’t want a locum to be taking over your care.’ Anton smiled. ‘And that is fair enough. In Italy I used to do obstetrics but then I moved into reproductive endocrinology and specialised there. In my opinion you can’t do both simultaneously, they are completely different specialties—you have to always be available for either. I only helped out that week because Richard was sick. I still cover very occasionally to help out and also because I like to keep up to date but in truth I cannot do both.’
‘So how come you moved back to obstetrics?’
‘I missed it,’ Anton admitted. ‘I do like the fertility side of things and I do see patients where that is their issue but if they need IVF then I refer them. Obstetrics is where I prefer to be.’
The movements were slowing down. Anton could see that and with her low level of amniotic fluid, Hannah would be more aware than most of any movement. ‘I think your baby might be just about cooked,’ Anton said, and then headed out of the ward and asked Brenda to come in. ‘I’m just going to examine Hannah,’ Anton said, and spoke to both women as he did so. ‘Your cervix is thinning and you’re already three centimetres dilated.’ He looked at Brenda. ‘Kicks are down from yesterday.’
Anton had considered delivering Hannah last night and now, with the news that the kicks were down combined with Hannah’s distress, he decided to go ahead this morning.
‘I think we’ll get things started,’ Anton said.
‘Now?’
‘Yes.’ Anton nodded and he explained to Hannah his reasoning. ‘We’ve discussed how your placenta is coming to the end of its use-by date. Sometimes the baby does better on the outside than in and I think we’ve just reached that time.’ He let it sink in for a moment. ‘I’ll start a drip, though we’ll just give you a low dose to help move things along.’
Hannah called her husband and Anton spoke with Brenda at the nurses’ station, then Hannah was taken around to the delivery ward.
All births were special and precious but Anton had been concerned about Hannah for a couple of weeks as the baby was a little on the small side. Anton would actually be very relieved once this baby was out.
By the time he had set up the drip and Hannah was attached to the baby monitor, with Luke, her husband, by her side, Anton was ready for a coffee break. He checked on another lady who would soon deliver and then he checked on his other patients on the ward.
Stephanie, another obstetrician, had been on last night and had handed over to him but, though Anton respected Stephanie, he had learnt never to rely on handovers. Anton liked to see for himself where his patients were and though he knew it infuriated some of the staff it was the way he now worked and he wasn’t about to change that.
Satisfied that all was well, he was just about to take himself to the staffroom when he saw Louise, still up that ladder, but she offered no snarky comment this time, neither were there any requests for assistance. Instead, she was pressing her fingers into her eyes and clearly felt dizzy.
Not my problem, Anton decided.
But, of course, it was.
‘LOUISE…’ HE WALKED over and saw her already pale features were now white, right down to her lips. ‘Louise, you need to get down from the ladder.’
The sound of his voice created a small chasm between the stars dancing in her eyes and Louise opened her eyes to the sight of Anton walking towards her. And she would get down if only she could remember how her legs worked.
‘Come on,’ Anton said. This time he did take her down from the ladder, though not over his shoulder, as they had both briefly considered before. Instead, he held his hand out and she took it and shakily stepped down. Anton put a hand around her waist and led her to the staffroom, where he sat her down and then went to the fridge and got out some orange juice.
‘Here,’ he said, handing the glass to her.
Louise took a grateful gulp and then another and blew out a breath. ‘I’m so sorry about that. I just got a bit dizzy.’
‘Did you have breakfast this morning?’
‘I did.’ Louise nodded but he gave her a look that said he didn’t believe a word. Anton then huffed off, leaving her sitting in the staffroom while he went to the kitchen. Louise could hear him feeding bread into the toaster.
God, Louise thought, rolling her eyes, here comes the lecture.
Anton returned a moment later with two slices of toast smothered in butter and honey.
‘I just told you that I’d already had breakfast,’ Louise said.
‘I think you should eat this.’
‘If I eat that I’ll be sick. I just need to lie down for a few minutes.’
‘Do you have a photo shoot coming up?’ Anton asked, and Louise sighed. ‘Answer me,’ Anton said.
‘Yes, I have a big photo shoot taking place on Christmas Eve but that has no part in my nearly fainting.’
Louise was a part-time lingerie model. She completely loved her side job and took it seriously. Everyone thought that it was hilarious, everyone, that was, except Anton. Mind, he didn’t find anything very funny these days.
‘You’re too thin.’ Anton was blunt and though Louise knew it was out of concern, there was no reason for him to be. She knew only too well the reason for the little episode on the ladder.
‘Actually, I’m not too thin, I’m in the healthy weight range,’ Louise said. ‘Look, I just got dizzy. Please don’t peg me as having an eating disorder just because I model part time.’
‘My sister is a model in Milan,’ Anton said, and Louise could possibly have guessed that, had Anton had a sister, then a model she might be because Anton really was seriously beautiful.
Louise lay down on the sofa because she could still see stars and she didn’t want Anton to know that. In fact, she just wanted him gone. And she knew how to get rid of him! A little flirt would have him running off.
‘Are my hips not childbearing enough for you, Anton?’ Louise teased, and Anton glanced down and it wasn’t a baby he was thinking about between those legs!
No way!
Louise had used to work in Theatre—in fact, she had been the nurse who had scrubbed in on his first emergency Caesarean here at The Royal. It had been the first emergency Caesarean section he had performed since losing Alberto. Of course, Louise hadn’t known just how nervous Anton had been that day and she could not possibly have guessed how her presence had both helped and unsettled him.
During surgery Anton had been grateful for a very efficient scrub nurse and one who had immediately worked well with him.
After surgery, when he’d gone to check in on the infant, Louise