Winning the Lottery

Ch. 37 Death

I went to the coffee cart and got a coffee and a muffin. I couldn't eat it. I could barely drink my coffee. I was too upset, too depressed.

"Bridget?" Kelly called.

I looked up.

She walked over and sat with me. "Hey, do you know why Peter can't have visitors today?"

"No, I think he's just tired. He didn't want people watching him sleep all day. He's fine," I spoke, taking a drink of coffee.

"Yeah, maybe. Are you okay?"

Jake walked over. "Why can't I visit Dad?"

Kelly rose a brow.

"He's just tired. Yesterday was a lot for him. He's fine," I spoke, taking a drink of coffee.

"Are you okay? You look upset," Jake spoke.

"I'm fine. I've just done a lot today."

"Yeah. You weren't there when I woke this morning. Why didn't you wake me?" Jake asked.

"I had a surgery."

"It would've taken two seconds," he argued.

I sighed. I was not in the mood to fight with him. Not today.

Dr. Welch came over. "Dr. Malone, our patient is looking good. He's very relieved."

"Good, good," I spoke, zoned out.

"Dr. Malone, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I absentmindedly spoke. I stood. "Um, I have to go check on a couple patients. Excuse me." I threw my muffin away and went upstairs. I checked on all of my patients.

I was paged to the emergency room.

A trauma was coming in. A train crash.

I went into trauma one with a woman who didn't look too bad. That's why I was in charge of her. I examined her for head and internal injuries. She didn't appear to have any.

Towards the end of my exam, she spoke, "How's my baby?"

The team and I froze.

"You're pregnant?" I asked.

She nodded.

I looked at the nurse assisting me. "Go page OB. We need Dr. Adams in here stat." I got an ultrasound out and checked her out.

What I saw was a lot of blood. I mean, a lot of blood. The ultrasound was cloudy. I couldn't find a heartbeat.

My heart sank.

"How far along are you?" I asked, trying to keep calm. Maybe she was too early to have a heartbeat.

"Twenty weeks."

I nodded. Crap.

Dr. Adams came in. "Dr. Malone, what do we got?"

I pointed to the scan.

She nodded. "How far along is she?"

"Twenty weeks."

"Crap. She's bleeding internally."

"What does that mean?"

Dr. Adams looked at me. "Dr. Malone, you should leave the room."

"I'm fine," I assured her.

Dr. Adams looked at our patient. "We have to take you to an emergent hysterectomy. I'm so sorry, but the rupture is so severe, I'm afraid the fetus has been compromised."