Hudson parked at the hospital. Inside, he followed the signs, walking the maze of the building, saying hello to a nurse here and there. Part of his job remit with The Skylarks was tobuild and enhance relationships with hospitals so he knew a lot of the staff from previous encounters. His role also involved supporting patients who had been treated by the air ambulance team so that they could make sense of their experience, and a big part of his job was supporting families after their loss of a loved one. It was the bit he was particularly good at, but also the bit that tried him the most. He’d been here at this hospital only a couple of weeks ago to meet with a family whose daughter, despite The Skylarks’ best efforts, hadn’t survived. The family had needed to fully comprehend what happened, at least the best they could, and they had important questions about the care that was provided to their daughter in the pre-hospital environment. It wasn’t an easy job for Hudson on those days as relatives found themselves in the painful position of being unexpectedly bereaved, but Hudson hoped he brought them some comfort and made things that little bit easier to bear.
Unlike the crew who took to the skies, Hudson didn’t work erratic shifts. Sometimes they happened, of course, like now, but usually he had more organised and social hours which fitted in with him and the kids. He’d been part time when he started with the Whistlestop River Air Ambulance and had been able to juggle work with being the parent who stayed at home the most, but when Lucinda moved out of the family home eight months ago, he’d had to return to full time given the change in his financial situation.
When he reached paediatrics, he spotted Nadia coming along the corridor. She looked drawn, tired, not her usual self at all.
‘How’s the baby?’Please let it be good news.If he believed it would make any difference, he’d cross his fingers on both hands.
Her face brightened. ‘She’s doing well. She’s going to be checked thoroughly by a doctor but preliminary checks by myself and the nurses haven’t found anything of concern. Wethink she must have been fed before she was left outside the airbase.’
‘No other signs of dehydration?’ Even if the baby had been fed, time was getting on and hunger and thirst could creep up easily.
‘No. She isn’t lethargic; she had a bit of a cry earlier with plenty of tears.’ She smiled; mostly, you didn’t like to see a baby’s tears, but it was a good sign that the baby was hydrated.
Nadia led the way back into the ward and over to one of the cubicles, coming in behind a guy in a white coat who strode with purpose right over to Lena. ‘This must be the doctor to do the formal assessment.’ Her gaze drifted back to Hudson. ‘It’s way past the end of your day. You didn’t have to come all the way out here.’
‘It’s my job, remember: patient and family liaison. And The Skylarks don’t clock off if they’re needed.’
‘You’re right. Perhaps I’m the one who shouldn’t really be here; it’s just, well, she’s so small?—’
‘It’s good that you came. It’s good that you care.’ He watched her shift along near the window so she could observe the doctor doing the checks. ‘I’ll take you home when you’re ready,’ he told her.
‘Thank you.’
Hudson stayed while the doctor examined Lena. Prior to his role with The Skylarks and before Carys was born, Hudson had been a full-time nurse, so he knew what the doctor was likely looking for. The doctor examined Lena’s eyes for their appearance and movement – he’d be checking for cataracts. He placed a stethoscope against Lena’s chest to check her heart. A lot of babies – adults too – found it cold and it jolted them but Lena seemed mesmerised by all the attention. The doctor was likely checking for heart murmurs. They were common, and meant the heart had an extra or unusual sound caused bydisturbed blood flow as it negotiated its way around the tight bends inside a young child’s heart. They usually turned out not to have a serious underlying cause – Beau had had one when he was born and both Hudson and Lucinda had held their breath until the doctor confirmed it was an innocent murmur which went away soon after. But hearing anything was out of the ordinary with your baby was a unique form of torture.
Lena underwent other physical examinations including the checking of her hips, screening tests she may have had as a newborn already but without any record, it was best to do them again. For the most part, she took the examinations well but it wasn’t too long before she got tetchy and Hudson couldn’t blame her. Her face turned pink; she gnawed at her clenched fists.
The doctor handed a grizzling Lena to Nadia because Nadia, just like a parent, found it hard to stay back. Hudson didn’t feel it was his place to ask her, but he sometimes wondered why she’d never had a family of her own; she was a natural and she seemed to have a desperate longing. Or maybe he was reading too much into it. Maybe his knack of observing how people reacted and felt had gone into overdrive.
Alongside the doctor’s assessment, a junior doctor had been taking notes and he carried on with those as the consultant addressed Nadia and Hudson. ‘Given her size, weight and appearance, I’d say that this little one was born slightly early. She’s approximately ten days old, maybe less. But she’s healthy, she’s strong. She’s been well looked after.’
A nurse came into the cubicle. ‘The police are on their way and social services have been notified.’ She leaned in and rubbed the back of her finger against Lena’s cheek. ‘Now let’s get this little one a bottle of formula. It’s been a couple of hours since you found her.’
‘The mother or whoever abandoned her outside the airbase must have fed her right before she was left.’ Nadia cradled Lenain her arms. ‘She’s too little to go too long without food. She’s done well to last.’
The nurse went off to make up the formula and Nadia sat in the chair next to the bed in the cubicle on the ward. Alongside them, ready for Lena, was a clear plastic cot-bed but Hudson suspected that even after a feed, Nadia would be in no rush to transfer the baby.
Hudson crouched down on his haunches. ‘You doing okay?’ He was used to this. He worked closely with patients and their families to explain interventions, their medical care, the holistic approach to their recovery. And Nadia right now felt like someone who needed that support. This case had hit her hard – it happened sometimes. He wanted to ask why she’d taken it so personally – was it just because Lena was so little? Had something happened to a baby she knew?
But it wasn’t his job to pry. It was his job to support.
Nadia didn’t shift her gaze from Lena as she lay there in her arms. ‘I’m just glad we found her soon after the bell rang. Sometimes, we don’t answer; sometimes, we’re in the hangar and don’t hear, or the crew could’ve been out on a job. I might have left, we?—’
He did his best to keep Nadia calm. ‘What might have happened isn’t the focus now. Lena is healthy and safe, that’s the main thing.’
As Lena became more fractious, Nadia stood and started to pace beside the window in the small space that belonged to this child for now. Medically, she almost had the all-clear, once she managed formula and had had a few nappy changes. Then all they’d need was social services to find a suitable placement for her and she’d be off. Although this was an unusual case, Hudson would keep in close contact with social services and the foster carer; he’d be ready to provide information about theappropriate support services if and when the mother or whoever had left Lena came forward.
The nurse came back with the formula and Nadia settled into the chair once again. But Lena didn’t take to the bottle straight away. The teat went in and she turned her head away and screwed up her face some more. Nadia tried it again, and another time.
‘Let me try a different type of bottle,’ the nurse suggested.
But that one was no good either.
The nurse put a hand to Lena’s head, the downy blonde hair curled beneath her fingers. ‘I wonder whether this little one has been breastfed and isn’t used to bottles.’
If that was the case, it meant that whoever had left her had really tried hard to care for her, as breastfeeding was rarely easy. Hudson wasn’t sure whether that made things better or worse but it did make him hopeful that the mother would come forwards and get the help she needed.
The nurse, who Hudson had met a couple of times before, picked up on Nadia’s distress. ‘She’ll eat eventually but if not, we’ll try using a teaspoon just to keep her hydrated. Would you like me to try her with the bottle again?’
