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Nov. 1st, 2008 04:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
guppy_sandhuThere are few things in life that would make Guppy respond more urgently to his pager. Fighting the usual urges of panic, he taps the door code in for maternity and, within minutes, is by his wife's side, holding her hand.
"Dr Sandhu?" He turns and looks at the doctor behind him. "My name is Dr Evans. I'm looking after your wife. She's not in labour, for now. Please sit down."
He does so, looking concernedly at Frogspawn, who is clearly frightened.
"I know you're both familiar with medical issues." Dr Evans says, her tone one of sympathy for worried parents-to-be. "Though I don't know how much you know about this field. Frances started having abdominal pain and contractions this afternoon, too early and too frequent for this stage of pregnancy, and came here. The contractions appear to have stopped, we've done a scan and everything inside looks fine."
"But she's only 22 and a half weeks." Guppy says, moving his second hand over to her baby bump.
"If your baby was born today, his chances of survival would be poor, but there is still a chance." Dr Evans says gently. "If we can keep him in there until at very least 24 weeks, that rises to 50%, but the longer we can keep him in the better his chances." She smiles slightly at Frogspawn. "You have been observant and picked up on the warning signs, that gives us maximum opportunity to do all we can for you and the baby. We'll be starting off by giving you steroids to speed up his lung development, just in case. And you need complete bed rest, to take as much pressure off the cervix as possible."
"Is this because I was still at work?" Frogspawn asks anxiously. "I'm not due off until next month."
"No, it's not your fault at all. You have a naturally short cervix, which increases the chance of premature birth. But it's not inevitable; your contractions stopped on their own this time." She gets up. "Try to remain as calm as possible, we will look after you. I'll be back to check on you later."
As the doctor leaves, Guppy puts his arms around Frogspawn and hugs her gently. She hugs him back.
"It was all going so well." she says quietly, leaning on him.
"We've got a bit of warning, thanks to you." Guppy replies. "A bit of time to prepare for him. And we're living in an age where even if he were to pop out right now he'd still have a chance. Obviously I hope we can keep him in there a bit longer, but I'll start seeking out very small clothes and nappies, just in case."
"He needs a name." Frogspawn says, moving her hand to hold Guppy's on her belly. "Even if... if things don't go well."
"I've not had a lot of luck with the acquatic nicknames." Guppy says, finding this topic somehow a welcome distraction from the fear. "It would have been easier for a girl, we could have had Coral or something."
"Well if it's anything unusual it'll have to be a middle name. Otherwise it would be cruel."
Guppy gets the baby names book out of his pocket, from his lunchtime reading, and peers through it.
"We can't name him after any of my friends, otherwise the others might be miffed. Which crosses out Atton, Sam and Will for a start."
"That book has Atton in it?"
"Well no, but it has Anton, which is close."
"What about Jake?"
"No, he'd never stop bragging. And I'm not using any names from my family. You got any in yours you like the sound of?"
Frogspawn considers.
"Well my father's name is Winston. My grandfather on one side was Reginald and the other was Wisdom. I'm not too keen on any of those... but I had a very eccentric great uncle Alexander who kept more than four hundred types of fish."
There is a pause whilst they consider the name Alexander Sandhu. Guppy flicks through the name book, pausing as he catches the letters 'fry' appearing on a page just next to his thumb. He flicks back to it and finds it was 'Jefry, alternate spelling, see Geoffrey', and ponders it for a moment before flicking back to find Alexander.
"Dr Sandhu?" He turns and looks at the doctor behind him. "My name is Dr Evans. I'm looking after your wife. She's not in labour, for now. Please sit down."
He does so, looking concernedly at Frogspawn, who is clearly frightened.
"I know you're both familiar with medical issues." Dr Evans says, her tone one of sympathy for worried parents-to-be. "Though I don't know how much you know about this field. Frances started having abdominal pain and contractions this afternoon, too early and too frequent for this stage of pregnancy, and came here. The contractions appear to have stopped, we've done a scan and everything inside looks fine."
"But she's only 22 and a half weeks." Guppy says, moving his second hand over to her baby bump.
"If your baby was born today, his chances of survival would be poor, but there is still a chance." Dr Evans says gently. "If we can keep him in there until at very least 24 weeks, that rises to 50%, but the longer we can keep him in the better his chances." She smiles slightly at Frogspawn. "You have been observant and picked up on the warning signs, that gives us maximum opportunity to do all we can for you and the baby. We'll be starting off by giving you steroids to speed up his lung development, just in case. And you need complete bed rest, to take as much pressure off the cervix as possible."
"Is this because I was still at work?" Frogspawn asks anxiously. "I'm not due off until next month."
"No, it's not your fault at all. You have a naturally short cervix, which increases the chance of premature birth. But it's not inevitable; your contractions stopped on their own this time." She gets up. "Try to remain as calm as possible, we will look after you. I'll be back to check on you later."
As the doctor leaves, Guppy puts his arms around Frogspawn and hugs her gently. She hugs him back.
"It was all going so well." she says quietly, leaning on him.
"We've got a bit of warning, thanks to you." Guppy replies. "A bit of time to prepare for him. And we're living in an age where even if he were to pop out right now he'd still have a chance. Obviously I hope we can keep him in there a bit longer, but I'll start seeking out very small clothes and nappies, just in case."
"He needs a name." Frogspawn says, moving her hand to hold Guppy's on her belly. "Even if... if things don't go well."
"I've not had a lot of luck with the acquatic nicknames." Guppy says, finding this topic somehow a welcome distraction from the fear. "It would have been easier for a girl, we could have had Coral or something."
"Well if it's anything unusual it'll have to be a middle name. Otherwise it would be cruel."
Guppy gets the baby names book out of his pocket, from his lunchtime reading, and peers through it.
"We can't name him after any of my friends, otherwise the others might be miffed. Which crosses out Atton, Sam and Will for a start."
"That book has Atton in it?"
"Well no, but it has Anton, which is close."
"What about Jake?"
"No, he'd never stop bragging. And I'm not using any names from my family. You got any in yours you like the sound of?"
Frogspawn considers.
"Well my father's name is Winston. My grandfather on one side was Reginald and the other was Wisdom. I'm not too keen on any of those... but I had a very eccentric great uncle Alexander who kept more than four hundred types of fish."
There is a pause whilst they consider the name Alexander Sandhu. Guppy flicks through the name book, pausing as he catches the letters 'fry' appearing on a page just next to his thumb. He flicks back to it and finds it was 'Jefry, alternate spelling, see Geoffrey', and ponders it for a moment before flicking back to find Alexander.
