“Yes, I’ve been blessed with easy pregnancies and deliveries.” Dani glances back and forth between us. “What do you see?”
He shifts the angle again, bringing the placenta into view—right above her cervix. “Your placenta has attached lower in your uterus this time. It’s a condition called placenta previa. It’s a common cause of second trimester bleeding. We’re going to want to keep you here until thebleeding resolves, and you’ll need to be on bed rest when you go home.”
“I have three kids. And a job.” Dani looks at me. “This will resolve, right?”
“Dr. Schmidt will follow you closely, but the best thing you can do to protect this pregnancy is let Jake worry about the kids.”
“On it,” he says. “She won’t move a muscle.”
Dr. Schmidt cleans up her belly, then stands up. “I’ll go find out if we can get you moved to the antenatal ward for the night. Hopefully you’ll get to go home tomorrow.”
I follow him out to the nurse station. “Can I be an obnoxious resident and ask a follow up question?”
He laughs. “Sure.”
“Would you consider doing a cerclage?”
“Are they teaching you to do unnecessary procedures on family members in Ottawa, Dr. Minelli?”
“I know the literature doesn’t support it as an intervention for previa, but there are a couple of things that stand out to me as unusual. She’s having this bleeding earlier than many do. It’s her fourth pregnancy, which means her cervix is already primed to dilate. And even if it doesn’t help, the procedure itself is minimally invasive. Unnecessary, maybe. Safe, yes. Why not try? And if it does help, then it’s worth writing up in a paper.”
“You had me until the last part. Don’t make more work for me. If I wanted to write papers, I’d work at a big city hospital like you do.” He says it kindly. He picks up the phone and calls upstairs. “I need to admit a patient for observation. And we might need to book the procedure room for—” He moves the phone away from his mouth. “Does tomorrow work for you to observe?”
I blink in surprise. “You’d let me scrub in?”
“You’ve probably placed more cerclages than I have in the last year. You might as well talk me through it.”
“Tomorrow’s fine. Great. Thank you.” I grin at him. “I won’t be obnoxious.”
“We’ll get her moved upstairs, and then I’ll do an internal exam before the end of my shift tonight. And in the meantime, I want you to send me whatever literature you think might back up your case.” He pauses. “You didn’t have any other plans for Christmas Day, did you?”
My answer is immediate and sincere. “Not at all.”
Chapter 25
Garrett
I’m sitting in the waiting room, thinking about going in search of a coffee, when I get a text message from my cousin Owen, who I saw briefly yesterday when I dropped off presents for his kids.
Owen
Hey bud, are you around today?
Garrett
I might be later. Currently in town with Rory.
In town means any town bigger than Pine Harbour. It means off the peninsula, running an errand or shopping or doing something important. And that’s as specific as I’m going to get right now.
Owen
When you get back, come by my place. I have an interesting surprise for you.
I drop a thumbs up on that, and then go back to bouncing my leg nervously.
I’m just about to text Rory and let her know I’m going to find out if the cafeteria is open on Christmas Day when she pushes through the waiting room door and rushes to my side.
“Hi,” she says breathlessly, as if the last thing she didn’t pretty much say to me was that we were done. Orshewas done, which is the same thing.
