Chapter 15
"God on high/ Hear my prayer/ In my need/ You have always been there/ He is young/ He's afraid/ Let him live/ Let him live" From the Broadway musical Les Miserables
Nick remained in
a coma for more than two weeks. He'd have the occasional day where his eyes
would flutter open and he'd respond to music. But those were only on occasion.
As promised, Brian and Leighanne came down from Georgia, and the others had
come down as well. For the meanwhile, they were all residing at the Carter-Galen
household. The two had enough food and drink for a small army, so accommodating
a few extra houseguests proved to be an easy task.
Sara, Jane, and Bob were the only ones allowed to stay at the hospital. They
had all tried to get away with it, but the hospital didn't have enough security,
and to everyone's urging and promises to call at the slightest change, everyone
reluctantly went home.
On this particular night Sara couldn't sleep. No matter how hard she tried or
how tired she was, sleep would not come to her aid. She rolled over carefully,
noted her cramps and watched Nick's chest rise and fall in rhythm. She heard
his heart monitor go off in regular intervals and saw the green line jump every
so often in a predictable fashion.
Rolling her way out of bed, Sara decided to take a seat in the chair next to
Nick's bed. Seeing how nothing was going to change, Sara's hand slowly found
Nick's fingertips.
"Nick, it's me," she started, somehow finding it therapeutic to talk
to him. "You haven't missed much in the past few weeks. All the guys are
here. Your family's here too. I'm sure you know that Aaron's been in here a
few times already." Sara suddenly fell silent. "I don't really know
what to say. It's 2:48 in the morning. I just wish you could speak. I wish you
could tell me everything and hold me the way it used to be." She stifled
a sob. "I just… I wish there would be some sort of sign telling me
that everything will be alright."
Maybe it was the tacos she ate for dinner, but Sara's stomach almost erupted.
Her stomach cramps increased their pressure and her baby started to kick. Instinctively
Sara knew what was happening: she was going into labor.
* * *
"Mom, wake
up," Angel urged her sleeping mother as she shook her none too gently.
"What do you want, Angel," Jane replied still half asleep.
"Something's going on at Nick's room."
With that Jane was instantly awake. She rose to her feet and burst into the
hallway with unprecedented speed.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"It seems that the young woman is going into labor," a lab technician
answered as he pushed Sara through the doorway.
"That can't be!" Jane said incredulously. "The baby's not due
for another week!"
"5 days," Sara replied as her face scrunched in discomfort.
"How can this happen?"
"Surprise."
* * *
The phone rang.
It rang again, this time disturbing Kristen Richardson from her peaceful doze.
"Hello?" she asked sleepily as Kevin turned over.
"Leighanne? Kristen? Someone?" Aaron's voice sounded.
"Aaron, what's going on?" Kristen asked.
"Sara's going into labor. Who is this by the way?"
"She's what? She can't be!" Kristen said sitting up.
"She is. Mom told me to call to see if you wanted to come over and see
the whole thing."
Kristen shook her head in disbelief. "Aaron, if you're even thinking about
playing around…"
"I'm not. Mom told me to call."
"Tell her we're on our way." With that, Kristen immediately hung up
and shook Kevin until he woke up.
"That's not my idea of a good morning," Kevin grumbled. "What
time is it?"
"Almost 3. Come on. Get up," Kristen said, satisfied that Kevin was
awake enough to function as she got off the bed and grabbed her jeans that had
been lying on a nearby chair.
"Why?"
Kristen zipped her jeans. "Because Sara's having the baby."
"No she's not."
"Oh yes she is. We gotta get there."
Kevin studied the young woman's actions as she deliberately searched through
her bag for a sweatshirt.
"You're really serious."
"Yeah, so help me wake the others," was the only thing Kevin heard
as Kristen practically ran out the door and into Howie's room next door.
* * *
"I can't do
this," Sara said as Jane wiped the sweat off of the young woman's brow.
"I just can't."
"Yes you can. We'll be here for you the whole time," Jane reassured
her.
"But I'm scared…"
"Caesarian sections are performed all the time. They'll have the sheet
up so you won't see anything."
"I wish Nick was here right now…"
"We all do, Sara," Jane soothed as the doctors laid the young woman
down and prepared her for the coming surgery.
"We came as soon as we could," Leighanne said as she and her newly
adopted green medical scrubs came into the room. "Did we miss anything?"
"Not yet. They're prepping Sara."
"For what?"
"For the C-section."
"Do they really have to do that?" Leighanne asked Sara as an IV was
placed in her arm.
Sara nodded. "It's the only real way to ensure that the baby won't get
my HIV."
Leighanne's gloved hand stroked Sara's sweat soaked hair affectionately. "You
had to make it complicated," Leighanne teased.
"Always."
* * *
"So what's
going on?" Brian asked as Leighanne came back from the ER.
"I'm not allowed in. Only two relatives are allowed."
"How's Sara?" Leslie asked.
"Sara's doing OK, considering. A little scared, but basically OK."
"What do you mean by considering? Isn't it a normal delivery?"
Leighanne shook her head. "Since Sara's got HIV as well and had been taking
her medications, the baby will probably be born without the virus. But to make
sure that happens, it needs to be a C-section delivery."
"Will she be OK?"
"We won't know until she's out of surgery. She'll be awake throughout the
whole procedure, though, so we should get regular updates from various technicians."
An envelope of silence settled on the room. "Can we pray?" BJ asked
softly.
The entire group joined hands and bowed their heads as Brian led the impromptu
prayer.
"Lord, please protect Sara from harm and make the surgery as smooth as
possible. Let her know that we will always be there for her…"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~