The Rescue Doctor's Baby Miracle

by Dianne Drake

  A queasy feeling landed in the pit of her stomach. One she couldn’t explain, but one that scared her for no reason she could even begin to understand. Thinking about Tom…good intentions, the worst outcome. No, Gideon shouldn’t be out there alone. Not in this. Not under any circumstances.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Jason warned, stepping up behind her.

  “About what?”

  “About going out there with him. Priscilla told me about you two. I knew he’d had a relationship go bad in the past, had no idea it was with you. And she also said there are a whole lot of unresolved emotions going on. “

  “He shouldn’t be out there alone, Jason. You know that!”

  “Sure, I know that, and that’s exactly what I tell him every time he breaks his own rules. But it’s Gideon’s call, Lorna. He’s smart. He won’t put himself in the way of anything dangerous.”

  “Unless someone needs him,” she said.

  “Unless someone needs him,” Jason repeated. “Gideon and I may be in charge of the teams, but when it comes to what Gideon wants to do…”

  “No one’s in charge of Gideon,” she said. “And he listens to no one. Believe me, I know that.”

  “He’ll be fine.” He forced a brave smile, but the worry behind it shone through. “I’ll send a team out as soon as the worst of the storm is over. Until then I’m not putting anybody at risk. I don’t want to sound harsh, but we’ve already had one fatality from someone who didn’t follow protocol, and I’m not going to do something I know isn’t right just to force Gideon to do something he doesn’t want to do. Like I said, he’ll be fine.”

  She nodded, not at all convinced by Jason’s words.

  Jason must have seen the uncertainty because he pulled a radio out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Look, call him.” Then he exited the supply tent to greet six volunteers carrying in three stretchers.

  “Gideon?” Lorna said as she clicked on.

  No answer. Just static.

  “Gideon, come in.”

  Again, static.

  “Gideon, it’s Lorna. Can you hear me?” Now she was getting concerned. Jason hadn’t been up that way, he didn’t know how bad it was. And with two more hard rains since she’d last been up there… ”Gideon, answer me! If you can hear me, answer me!”

  But he didn’t. And that’s when she went to find Jason to tell him that Gideon might be in trouble. Problem was, every single volunteer and rescuer in the outfit was busy settling in the influx of new patients and doing the initial round of medical assessments, and there was no one free to go out looking for Gideon.

  Except her! Damn the rules.

  “Look, Gideon,” she said to herself as she grabbed a rucksack full of medical supplies. “I’m coming out there, and you’d better be in trouble. Because if you’re not…” She prayed that he was not as she slipped out of base camp and headed south, straight into the wind and the rain.

  “Good boy,” Gideon said, sliding his way up to one of the houses still standing on this side of the hill. Max knew someone was in there. Judging from Max’s reactions, someone alive!

  That was a relief.

  It was also a relief that he’d sent everybody back, because from the looks of the ground up there, it was none too stable. In fact, he wished now he’d sent Max back, too. Since it was still raining, there was every chance the mud could turn into a river and wash everything on this path down with it. Which meant it was time to get the people inside that house out, and get the hell out of there himself. No heroes here, he thought as he fought his way up, each and every one of his steps sinking him ankle-deep in the mud.

  It took another five minutes of slipping and sliding, falling down into the mud then pulling himself back up, before he finally reached the house. It was a bright orange, with cute white flower-boxes under the windows. Except the boxes held no flowers…only mud. And the front window was broken, leaving the muddy white curtains inside exposed to the weather. “Hello!” he called. “Anybody in here?”

  “Hello!” a tiny voice called back.

  A child! “Good job,” he said, patting Max on the head.

  Within a few seconds a small boy with a thick head of black curly hair appeared at the front door, trying to hide behind it as he opened it to Gideon.

  “Meu nome é Gideon e eu sou um doutor,” he said.

  “Me nome é Zé Azevedo,” the boy said tentatively.

  “Well, Zé, I’m afraid that’s where my knowledge of your language ends.” He motioned Max over to the door, and immediately a broad smile broke out on the boy’s face. Always worked with children. Bring in Max and everything was fine.

  “Max,” Gideon said, pointing to the dog as he tried to look past Zé into the house. It was dark inside, and from his vantage point he could see no one else. But the child couldn’t have been more than five or six and, as close and protective as Brazilian families were, his parents wouldn’t have left him here alone. So there had to be someone else in there. “Mãe? Pai?” Mother? Father?

  Zé gave Gideon a curious look, as if trying to figure out his accent.

  “Mãe?” he said again, wondering now if he was using the right word.

  “Onde está sue mãe?” Lorna said, stepping up behind Gideon. “Roughly translated, I just asked him where his mother is.”

  “You followed me?”

  “More like came to rescue you.”

  “Except I don’t need rescuing.”

  “Well, it seems you do, at least in the sense of needing a translator.” She glanced down at Zé again, and repeated, “Onde está sue mãe?”

  “Minha mãe é doente.”

  “She’s sick,” Lorna said, stepping into the house ahead of Gideon.

  He came through the door right behind her, and his immediate impression of the house was that it was clean and tidy, except for the area at the front window where mud and other loose debris had filtered in. There were bright pictures on the wall…family members, he guessed. And a hand-made blanket covering the back of a rocking chair. Typical Brazilian flowery brightness with a blend of primary colors.

  “In the back,” he said, pointing to the closed door at the end of the short hall directly in front of them. Immediately, he threw off his rain slicker and brushed back his wet hair. “We’ve got to get them out of here because if this hill slides, the house won’t stand.” As attractive as the house was, there wasn’t sufficient structure to hold it up, and every minute spent there put them all in greater risk. “You take Zé and head on back to base camp,” he instructed. “I’ll take care of his mother.”

  “Not before I have a look at her,” she said.

  “Lorna,” he muttered, “this isn’t the time to argue.”

  “Not arguing,” she said, on her way to the back room. “Just telling you what I’m going to do.” She opened the door to the back room, took one step inside, and sucked in a sharp breath. “Gideon,” she whispered, “we have a problem.”

  Immediately, he stepped in behind her. “Damn,” he muttered, clicking the radio on. Priscilla answered through a spray of static.

  “We have a woman here, fully in labor. House is in jeopardy, and we can’t take her out. I need as many volunteers up here as I can have…Tell them to come prepared to brace the structure, or dig us out if it collapses before we can get out. I’ll also need whatever supplies we have to get this baby back down to base camp safely.” He didn’t know if the message was getting through. He could only hope

  “Two,” Lorna said.

  “What?” he sputtered, clicking off the radio.

  “Two babies. She’s holding up two fingers, and I’m assuming that means twins.”

  “Great. This means we could be having a premature birth. Damn, that’s not what we needed!” He clicked back on the radio. “I need more medical help, too. We’ve got twins coming…”

  “Moderate contractions,” Lorna said, laying her hands on Jussara Azevedo’s round belly. She was already timing them, while Gideon m
ethodically explained the location of the house to Priscilla, then repeated it in case it didn’t get through the first time.

  “I don’t suppose you understand enough to know how far along she is?” he asked Lorna, after he clicked off the radio.

  “Wish I did. But I don’t even have my translation book along.” She pulled back the sheet and exposed the woman’s belly as Zé explained to his mother that Gideon was a doctor.

  Jussara looked relieved for a moment, then she was gripped by another contraction.

  “Don’t need a translator for that,” Gideon said, pulling the stethoscope out of his rucksack. He put the earpieces in and took a listen. “Her heart’s fine, can’t hear a damn thing from the babies.”

  Lorna smiled. “But I can feel them, and they’re ready to get out.”

  “So, are you going to do the exam? She’ll be more comfortable with a woman, I think.” It wasn’t the impending childbirth that made him uncomfortable so much as having Lorna there, during it. They had never talked about her miscarriage since the day it had happened, and even then the words between them had been so few. And so bitter. This had to bring back awful memories for her, because it did for him. Trying to get to the hospital to be with her, getting stranded at the airport, caught up in traffic on the highway…too late when he finally did arrive. Even now, thinking about the way he hadn’t been there for her made him sick to his stomach. Sometimes he could still see Lorna’s face when he’d arrived at the hospital that day…the pain, the anger, the fear. It always made him break out in a cold sweat, just like he was doing right now. Any other emergency, but not this…

  He turned his back as Lorna did the preliminary exam. “She looks to be right at six centimeters,” she said. “One hundred per cent effaced.”

  “So it could be a while,” he said, still staring at the wall.

  “Or right away. You never know with twins.”

  “Gideon,” Priscilla called over the radio.

  “Here,” he said into his.

  “We can’t get…whole area…sliding…not safe.” Static broke up the rest of her words.

  Gideon listened hard, and by the end of the conversation thought she’d said something about having a try from the back of the hill, trying to get to the top of it from the other side. “Looks like we’re stuck here,” he said to Lorna, trying to sound bright about it. Truth was, coming in from the back wasn’t easy because the terrain over there was much like it was on this side. All mud and water, with more rain threatening to make it even worse. Not so many houses, though, which was the only spark of optimism at getting out of here. However it worked out, however they got to them—and they would, he absolutely knew that—there wasn’t a damn thing he could for now except wait. And help Lorna deliver a couple of babies.

  Lorna applied counter-pressure to Jussara’s back to help relieve some of the pain. They’d been there an hour now, and the contractions were progressing. The poor woman was so uncomfortable…intermittently vomiting and drinking the juice Gideon was tying to force down her in order to keep her hydrated. Right now, it was simply about waiting. And the praying that the house wouldn’t come down on them or that Gideon’s crew would find a way in.

  Zé was in the front room, playing with Max, who was more patient about it than any dog had a right to be. And over the course of Jussara’s very broken English and Lorna’s even more limited understanding of Brazilian Portuguese, she thought she’d figured out that Jussara’s husband was actually down at base camp, helping in the rescue effort. Had he known his wife was in labor when he’d left her? She looked over at Gideon for a moment, then looked away.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “That wasn’t a nothing look you just gave me.”

  “OK, I was wondering if Mr. Azevedo knew his wife was in labor when he left her?”

  Instead of replying, Gideon glanced away.

  “Look, I didn’t mean to start something between us, but you asked.”

  “And right now you’re thinking about how I left you. How I knew you were spotting that day and left anyway.”

  Actually, she hadn’t been thinking that. Over the years, the memory had dissipated. She hadn’t wanted to think about that time in her life, and for the most part she’d successfully blocked out the worst of the memories. “No,” she whispered. “I wasn’t.”

  He snapped his head around to glare at her. “I don’t believe that! You divorced me because of it.”

  So here it was. The other shoe dropping, so to speak. She’d wondered when they would get around to this, had hoped they wouldn’t, figured they would. “I divorced you for a lot of reasons, Gideon. For shutting me out, for never being home, for never really being with me when you were there, for hating my television job and always finding subtle ways to remind me…you not being there when I miscarried was only one of the many.”

  “The worst of them,” he said, his voice going from defensive to sad. “And I’m so sorry, Lorna. For everything, but especially for not being with you that day. You don’t know how many times I’ve…” He shut his eyes and shook his head. “I’ve hated myself for that.”

  “It wasn’t anybody’s fault,” she said gently. “The doctor said I was fine, that you could go. Nobody could have predicted what happened…” Predicted the end of so many things. “You didn’t know, Gideon. I know I said some awful things at the time, blamed you, accused of being glad you weren’t going to be tied down, but I got counseling afterwards. Joined a support group. And the one thing I learned was that there isn’t blame. A lot of angry and helpless feelings, often many irresponsible words, but no blame.”

  “You got help?”

  “To get through it, I had to. Oh, I know there were other problems, but the miscarriage just became the most convenient one, the excuse I used to get rid of you, Gideon. I held it against you and blamed you and fixed on it until I couldn’t function, when the truth was I felt like such a failure. Such a simple, natural thing, having a baby. And I couldn’t do it.”

  He shook his head sadly. “God, we were all over the place, weren’t we? Fighting against so many things, and none of them that mattered.”

  “We did have our share of problems.’ She smiled at Jussara reassuringly. “And I think, for me, the worst was that I always felt like I was in second place with you, especially after I took the job with the television station. After that we never seemed to click like we had before. Then after I miscarried, I was just too tired to figure it out. Too hurt. Too broken-hearted. I think I’d convinced myself that having a baby would keep you with me more, make things right with us again, and when our baby…died, there just wasn’t enough left in me that wanted to try and compete for your attention. I didn’t think I could win.”

  “Oh, God, Lorna. You were never second place. But I thought I was. Or would be.” He set Jussara’s cup down after she’d finished drinking, then took a cloth from the warm water in a pot sitting on the table next to the bed. After wringing it out, he laid it over Jussara’s belly. “I wanted our baby, Lorn. More than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life. At the time, I know you thought that I didn’t, that I was relieved I wouldn’t have to be tied down with family responsibilities. But I wanted our baby. I’d even bought…baby things.”

  She blinked in surprised. “You did? You never told me.”

  “Because by that time neither of was listening. We’d gone past the point of no return, and it wouldn’t have made a difference.”

  “What?” she asked. “What had you bought?’

  A sad smile touched his lips. “A stuffed bear for a girl, and a baseball mitt for a boy. I ran out and bought them the day you told me we were going to have a baby.”

  Suddenly, Lorna felt tears stinging at the back of her eyes. “I wish I could have seen them. Maybe it would have made things…better. Different.”

  “I kept them,” he said. “I tried to throw them away a few times, but I couldn’t. I thought…”

  Jussara br
oke in with a load moan, followed by a gush of clear fluid. Instantly, Lorna took a look and, finally, the first baby was crowning. “It’s on the way,” she said, positioning herself for the delivery

  Instinctively, Jussara, who’d been lying on her side, turned over and pushed herself up to her hands and knees.

  “And I think she’s ready to have at it,” Gideon said, stepping back. “I don’t guess I’ve ever seen…”

  “On hands and knees?” Lorna laughed. “It’s the natural way. Or squatting. Women were doing it long before anyone told them they needed a doctor present, and that a hard, flat table with stirrups was the proper way.”

  “Not my field of expertise,” he said, forcing back a grimace as Jussara moaned again.

  “It will be, after we get these babies into the world.” With Jussara’s shift in position, the contractions seemed to start coming harder and faster almost immediately, until finally the woman began to push.

  “Damn,” Gideon muttered, dampening another cloth and applying this one to Jussara’s head. “Now I know why I didn’t go into obstetrics.”

  Lorna laughed as she began the delivery. “And why men aren’t the ones to have the babies.” He would have been good at their childbirth, she thought. Or totally passed out on the floor and completely in everybody’s way. “Look, this baby’s going to come out pretty fast once it’s started. Can you handle the cord?”

  He nodded.

  “The other one may come out pretty quickly, too. As best I can tell, it’s turning into position and getting ready, so there’s a good chance you’ll be clamping the cord as the next one’s crowning.”

  “Is it too late to postpone this until we can get her to the hospital?” he asked, sounding a bit winded.