Alison Roberts - Midwives On-Call

‘Here’s Dr Evans,’ she said briskly to the room in general. ‘He’s one of our best obstetricians. You’re in good hands now, Maggie.’

‘She doesn’t need to be in good hands.’ A woman who looked almost the mirror image of the woman in the bed—except that she was smartly dressed, not a hair out of place, looking like she was about to step into a boardroom—was edging round the end of the bed to see what Em was doing. She ignored Oliver. ‘Maggie, you just need to push. Thirty-six hours … You can do this. It’s taking too long. Just push.’

Em cast him a beseeching look—and he got it in one. The whole set-up.

A guy who was presumably Maggie’s husband was sitting beside her, holding her hand. He looked almost as stressed as his labouring wife.

The other woman had a guy with her, as well, presumably her husband, too? He was dressed in casual chinos and a cashmere sweater. Expensive. Smooth.

Both he and his wife seemed focused on where the action should be taking place. Where their child would be born. Even though the woman had been talking to Maggie, she’d been looking at the wrong end of the bed.

Surrogate parenthood … Oliver had been present for a couple of those before, and he’d found the emotion involved was unbelievable. Surrogacy for payment was illegal in this country. It had to be a gift, and what a gift! To carry a child for your sister …

But Maggie wasn’t looking as if she was thinking of gifts. She was looking beyond exhaustion.

Thirty-six hours …

‘Can’t you push?’ Maggie’s sister said again, fretfully. ‘Come on, Maggie, with all of yours it was over in less than twelve hours. The book says it should be faster for later pregnancies. You can do it. You have to try.’

‘Maggie needs to go at her own pace,’ Em said, in a tone that told him she’d said it before, possibly a lot more than once. ‘This baby will come when she’s ready.’

‘But all she needs to do is push …’

He’d seen enough. He’d heard enough. Oliver looked at Maggie’s face, and that of her husband. He looked at Em and saw sheer frustration and he moved.

‘Tell me your names,’ he said, firmly, cutting off the woman who looked about to issue another order. ‘Maggie, I already know yours. Who are the rest of you?’

‘I’m Rob,’ said the man holding Maggie’s hand, sounding weary to the bone. ‘I’m Maggie’s husband. And this is Leonie, Maggie’s sister, and her husband, Connor. This is Leonie and Connor’s baby.’

‘Maybe we need to get something straight,’ Oliver said, gently but still firmly. He was focusing on Maggie, talking to the room in general but holding the exhausted woman’s gaze with his. ‘This baby may well be Leonie and Connor’s when it’s born, but right now it has to be Maggie’s. Maggie needs to own this baby if she’s going to give birth successfully. And I’m looking at Maggie’s exhaustion level and I’m thinking we need to clear the room. She needs some space.’

‘But it’s our baby.’ Leonie looked horrified. ‘Maggie’s agreed—’

‘To bear a baby for you,’ he finished for her. Em was watching him, warily now, waiting to see where he was going. ‘But right now Maggie’s body’s saying it’s hers and her body needs that belief if she’s to have a strong labour. I’m sorry, Leonie and Connor, but unless you want your sister to have a Caesarean, I need you to leave.’

‘We can’t leave,’ Leonie gasped. ‘We need to see her born.’

‘You may well—if it’s okay with Maggie.’ They were in one of the teaching suites, geared to help train students. It had a mirror to one side. ‘Maggie, that’s an observation window, with one-way glass. Is it okay if your sister and her husband move into there?’

‘No.’ Leonie frowned at Oliver but the look on both Maggie and Rob’s faces was one of relief.

‘I just … need … to go at my own pace,’ Maggie whispered.

‘But I want to be the first one to hold our baby,’ Leonie snapped, and Oliver bit his tongue to stop himself snapping back. This situation was fraught. He could understand that sisterly love was being put on the back burner in the face of the enormity of their baby’s birth, but his responsibility was for Maggie and her baby’s health. Anything else had to come second.

‘What Maggie is doing for you is one of the most generous gifts one woman can ever give another,’ he said, forcing himself to stay gentle. ‘She’s bearing your baby, but for now every single hormone, every ounce of energy she has, needs to believe it’s her baby. You need to get things into perspective. Maggie will bear this baby in her own time. Her body will dictate that, and there’s nothing you or Connor can say or do to alter it. If Maggie wants to, she’ll hold her when she’s born. That’s her right. Then and only then, when she’s ready and not before, she’ll make the decision to let her baby go. Emily, do you agree?’

‘I agree,’ she said.

Em had been silent, watching not him but Maggie. She was a wonderful midwife, Oliver thought. There was no midwife he’d rather have on his team, and by the look on her face what he was suggesting was exactly what she wanted. The problem, though, was that the biological parents exuded authority. He wouldn’t mind betting Leonie was older than Maggie and that both she and her husband held positions of corporate power. Here they looked like they’d been using their authority to push Maggie, and they wouldn’t have listened to Em.

Isla had sent him in for a reason. If this had been a normal delivery then Em could have coped alone, but with the level of Maggie’s exhaustion it was getting less likely to be a normal delivery.

Sometimes there were advantages to having the word Doctor in front of his name. Sometimes there were advantages to being a surgeon, to having given lectures to some of the most competent doctors in the world, to have the gravitas of professional clout behind him.

Sometimes it behoved a doctor to invoke his power, too.

‘Maggie, would you like to have a break from too many people?’ he asked now.

And Maggie looked up at him, her eyes brimming with gratitude. ‘I … Yes. I mean, I always said that Leonie could be here but—’

‘But your body needs peace,’ Oliver said. He walked to the door and pulled it wide. ‘Leonie, Connor, please take seats in the observation room. If it’s okay with Maggie you can stay watching. However, the mirror is actually an electric screen. Emily’s about to do a pelvic examination so we’ll shut the screen for that so you can’t see, but we’ll turn it back on again as soon as Maggie says it’s okay. Is that what you want, Maggie?’

‘Y-yes.’

‘But she promised …’ Leonie gasped.

‘Your sister promised you a baby,’ Oliver told her, still gently but with steel in every word. ‘To my mind, that gift needs something in return. If Maggie needs privacy in this last stage of her labour, then surely you can grant it to her.’

And Leonie’s face crumpled. ‘It’s just … It’s just … Maggie, I’m sorry …’

She’d just forgotten, Oliver thought, watching as Leonie swiped away tears. This was a decent woman who was totally focused on the fact that she was about to become a mother. She’d simply forgotten her sister. Like every other mother in the world, all she wanted was her baby.

She’d have to wait.

He held the door open. Leonie cast a wild, beseeching look at Maggie but Em moved fast, cutting off Maggie’s view of her sister’s distress. Maggie didn’t need anyone else’s emotion. She couldn’t handle it—all her body needed to focus on was this baby.

‘We’ll call you in when Maggie’s ready to receive you,’ Oliver said cheerfully, as if this was something that happened every day. ‘There’s a coffee machine down the hall. Go make yourself comfortable while Maggie lets us help her bring your baby into the world.’