I gave Brad another hug because it felt so good the first time, and then I left them alone.
It looked like Chloe would be getting all the glory. Again.
I went back to the doctor’s break room to catch a cat nap before all the action started. I turned off the lights and lay down on the worn leather sofa, pulling a blanket over me. Thoughts of Brad filled my head, and I tried hard to think of something else. Anything but Brad. Just as I was about to doze off, Candy came in the room.
“Tara’s BP is shooting up, and her baby is in distress.”
I shot up off the couch and walked quickly to her room.
Candy had turned Tara on her side and put an oxygen mask on her face. I checked her vitals. She didn’t look good.
“Tara, we need to go ahead and do a C-section. Your baby’s in distress and her heartbeat is falling fast.”
Tara
lifted off her mask. “Whatever you have do.”
I looked over at her boyfriend, Nick, still on the couch, now white as a ghost.
“She’ll be okay. The nurse will take you to get suited up in scrubs and I’ll meet you in the operating room.”
I went to scrub up for the operation.
“Dr. Love, Chloe is ready to push. She’s at ten.” Another nurse, Patrice, shouted out to me as I walked into the OR.
“Okay. Get Candy in there to help. Be there as soon as I can.”
This would be a close one.
After Tara was prepped and ready to go, Nick walked in. He sat down on the stool next to her. He was still white in the face.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“Yeah, I think so. I don’t like blood.”
“That’s what the sheet is for. Just keep your eyes on Tara.”
I started the surgery and worked as quickly as possible. After a few minutes, I was making headway.
“Okay, Tara, you’ll feel a little pressure,” I said as I reached in to pull the baby out.
“It’s a girl.”
Nick made the mistake of standing up to see his daughter. As soon as his eyes glanced to the other side of the curtain, he swayed and hit the floor.
“Man down!” The
anesthesiologist
yelled when Nick collapsed.
An operating tech went over to help Nick while I reached over the curtain and showed the baby to Tara.
I checked the time. Nine forty five. I wondered how Chloe was coming along.
It took me another twenty minutes to stitch Tara up.
“Congratulations,” I told her as I left the OR. “I’ll come by and see you later.”
I washed up and headed over to check on Chloe. I could hear some moaning and crying as I walked in.
“Just in time, Doctor,” Candy said as I walked in.
The baby’s head was peeking out. I pulled up the stool and helped coax out the baby.
“A couple big pushes, Chloe, and your baby will be here,” I said in a reassuring tone.
Brett was at the head of the bed wiping Chloe’s forehead with a washcloth. He was so sweet and tender with her. I wanted what they had. Genuine, true love. One day I’ll have that with someone special. Someone who sticks with me through good and bad.
“It’s a girl,” I announced after Chloe’s last big push.
I checked the clock again. Nine fifty-nine p.m. Chloe may have got her man, but Tara had her baby first.
And the score was tied up.
Chloe 1 – Tara 1
The weekend went by fast. After the hectic work week and two deliveries on Saturday night, I was exhausted. I spent Sunday catching up on my favorite shows that I’d Tivo’d during the week. Sunday night, curiosity got the best of me, and while eating takeout Chinese food, I Googled Brad Whitford.
He had a Facebook account, but it was private so I couldn’t see anything except his profile picture. Which was a great picture by the way. He wasn’t posing like some men do, nor did he have a silly cartoon character as his picture. He was wearing a LSU t-shirt and standing outside a football stadium.
Brad’s profile on the UAB hospital website listed him as a staff OB/GYN doctor and fertility specialist and displayed a couple of photos. One photo was a professional headshot, and the other showed him holding a newborn baby. He was in dark green scrubs, his strong arms cradling the baby. I got a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach while looking at the picture. Heather and Venus were right. Brad was a good-looking man and he had southern charm to boot.
Was I being unreasonable about the whole thing? I mean, my parents were the ones who’d decided to hire someone to help with the practice. It wasn’t his fault that I didn’t agree with them. I just felt like this was all happening way too fast – and without my input.
My ringing cell phone brought me out of daydreaming. I recognized the number of Rochelle Rogers. I thought about sending her to voice mail, but realized that being the persistent journalist that she was, she would just keep calling.
“Hi Rochelle.”
“Hope, hi. I wanted to talk to you about doing an interview with
LA Style
. It’s for the spring issue coming out next March. I’m interviewing the top single women in Hollywood. We’d love for you to be in it.”
“What all would that include?”
“An interview about your profession and what it is like being single in LA along with a personal profile. I can email you a list of questions beforehand, and you can fill it out and bring it with you to the photo shoot.”
“Who else has committed to the article?” I asked, wanting to know whose company I would be in.
“Right now I have three women who have confirmed. Kaycee Reynolds, a country musician; Meghan Burkowitz, a sitcom writer; and Janessa Myers, the soap opera actress.”
Apparently she didn’t know about Janessa’s delicate condition yet or that she wasn’t single.
“Okay. When do you need to do the shoot?”
“The last week of December. We’ll contact you with all the information in the next few weeks.”
“Sounds good,” I said, and then gave her my email address. “Thanks for thinking of me.”
“Great. I’ll be in touch.” Rochelle clicked off.
Maybe doing this article would get my mom off my back for a while and bring some exposure to the clinic. I surely wasn’t expecting to find a boyfriend by doing this.
The next couple of weeks went by like a blur. I had managed four deliveries, two pregnancy scares, a case of gonorrhea, numerous yeast infections, and uncountable UTI’s.
I finally had coaxed Janessa to come in and we confirmed her pregnancy by ultrasound. I gave her a due date of May 1
st
. She still wasn’t sure if she wanted to carry the baby to term. I encouraged her to talk to her boyfriend Apollo before making any rash decisions, and we arranged to meet again in two weeks.
Hilary Jackson’s mammogram results also came in and we scheduled a biopsy for that suspicious lump. I referred her to an oncologist and prayed for the best. She took the news well and was upbeat and positive about the whole thing. “I’ve been through two divorces and raised three teenagers. If I can get through that, I can handle this just fine,” Hilary said when she left.
I was mentally counting down the days until the new doctor Brad Whitford made his appearance. He was due to arrive this weekend and start on Monday. I needed to sit down and figure out how to divide up the patients and make an on-call schedule. This would be hard. I didn’t want to compromise my practice. My mom had called me several times on the pretense of making plans for Thanksgiving, which was over a month away, but I know she wanted to see how I was managing with the office drama.
This morning we had a staff meeting to discuss Dr. Whitford’s arrival and the changes that would be inevitably taking place. I brought donuts, bagels, gourmet juices, and coffee to soften the blow. I knew the staff wouldn’t be pleased. I supposed I had spoiled them a bit.
As soon as everyone was seated around the conference table and having breakfast, I started the meeting. I don’t know why I was so nervous. My staff had been with me for a long time and I wasn’t sure if they would accept this new change in the practice.
“As you know, we have a new doctor starting next week. Bradley Whitford will assist me in seeing patients and coordinating deliveries. We’ll need to switch around staff to accommodate Dr. Whitford. I know it won’t be easy…”
Meredith, one of the nurses, raised her hand.
“Yes, Meredith.”
“I’ll volunteer to be Dr. Whitford’s nurse.”
“That’s real noble of you Meredith,” Heather snickered.
“What? I’m just stepping up to help.”
“Thanks, Meredith. Actually I was going to assign you to Dr. Whitford anyway. You’re okay with that?”
“Sure.” Meredith smiled big while the other nurses looked forlorn.
“We’ll all still work together as a team, and I promise to make the transition as smooth as possible for the patients and you guys.”
“Does this mean you’ll be taking more time off?”
“Will you be hiring more staff?”
The questions were fired at me from all directions. I held up my hand.
“We’ll see. Heather and I will put out a list of patients that will be transferred into Dr. Whitford’s care next week as well as a new work schedule.” I took a sip of the yummy mango pineapple juice I had gotten from the Mr. Bean coffee store. “Any more questions?”
Not a hand was raised. I wasn’t so sure this was a good thing.
“Okay. Let’s get to work.” I walked into my office and sat down. That had gone better than I thought. The staff didn’t seem stressed about the changes. Then why did I?
Heather knocked on the door and came in.
“You okay?”
“Sure. Why?”
“Nothing. You just look a little tense. I’m sure everything will turn out okay.”
Heather waved a file in her hand.
“We have a new patient this morning. She’s an OB patient transferring from Dr. Kelso’s office. In preparation for retiring, Dr. Kelso was slowly referring all his new patients to me.
“Who is it?”
“Kasey Levine.”
“Name sounds familiar. Actress?”
“Sort of. She’s a stunt woman.”
“Oh, that’s cool. Our first stuntwoman patient.”
“She’s in exam room two with her partner.”
“Partner?”
“Yes, her name is Sherry Smith.”
“Got it.”
“Also, Katrina is here. Exam room three. She wants you to check her. She’s been having contractions.”
“Okay, thanks.”
I walked into the exam room where Kasey was ready for me.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Love,” I introduced myself.