Billionaire Doctor (House of Kolovsky) - Carol Marinelli Page 0,41
to spoil you for once—not the other way around.’
Annie waited for him to tell Jackie they weren’t together anymore, to say something—anything—to slow the heart that was hammering in her chest. But he didn’t.
Iosef didn’t say a single word to refute.
And as Jackie picked up the phone and started talking, for a tiny second their eyes locked. A million questions were burning in hers but each and every one was left completely unanswered as he tore his eyes away, picked up his pen to resume writing his notes. Jackie’s earlier words echoed, haunting Annie now.
Denial’s a powerful drug.
‘We’ve got a newborn coming in.’ Jackie put down the phone and gestured for Annie to come over, and any relationship woes were pushed firmly aside when she revealed the contents of the call. ‘Apparently the baby’s been found abandoned in a shopping-mall toilet.’
‘I’ll go and warm the cot, get things ready.’ Annie headed for Resus, with Jackie and Iosef walking briskly alongside her.
‘When you have done that, ring Security and Social Services—actually, I might just ring the nursing co-ordinator now...’
‘Why?’ Iosef’s question had Annie frowning as she flicked on the cot and started preparing for the infant’s arrival. ‘Why do you need to ring the co-ordinator? We don’t know the baby’s condition. It might not even need an NICU bed.’
‘I’m not worried about the bed state.’ Jackie gave him an old-fashioned look as she punched in the co-ordinator’s number. ‘You know how we were just talking about the press—well, wait till they get hold of this.’
They already had.
A bystander at the shopping mall had put something online and as Annie went out to greet the ambulance, photographers were already gathering, attempting to get shots of the baby who was being shielded by a blanket as the paramedic raced her through the department and into the resuscitation area, carefully placing her under the heater as everyone swung into action.
‘The woman who found her heard a small cry but nothing really since then. She’s pretty flat.’
‘Hypothermic.’ Iosef checked the baby’s temperature then nodded as Annie delivered warm, humidified oxygen. Briskly stepping aside when the anesthetist arrived, and having checked the baby’s glucose levels, she set up the dextrose infusion Iosef had ordered. ‘Two, maybe three hours old,’ Iosef said, checking the status of the umbilical cord as he inserted a line to deliver drugs. ‘She’s very small.’
It sounded as if he was stating the obvious, but Annie knew his trained eye was stating far more. The baby was very small and scrawny, but in a newborn, size and weight weren’t always indicative of gestational age. He measured her head with tape then his meticulous eyes and fingers scanned and probed the newborn, noting the well-formed ears, the nipples, the creases on the soles of her feet—digesting the information before he gave his verdict. ‘This baby’s full term—small, but full term. Let’s weigh her.’
‘She’s very jittery,’ Annie noted as the baby started to respond to warming. Her little limbs were pinking up but tiny jerking actions were apparent and Jackie wasted no time saying what Annie was thinking.
‘She could be suffering drug withdrawal, given that her mother—’
‘Her glucose levels are low,’ Iosef interrupted. ‘Let’s just deal with the few facts that we do know— and hypoglycemia would more than account for her jitteriness. Where are the pediatricians?’
‘Stuck on the ward with a sudden collapse,’ the nurse co-ordinator answered as she came in, turning off her shrilling pager. ‘Poor little mite—what an awful start to life.’
‘She’s fine!’ Iosef’s response was very matter-of- fact. ‘She’s responding well to warming and fluids.’ She was—the little body that had been so still was pink and moving now, and very pleasingly she was crying loudly at the indignity of it all. And even though she continued to pick up, she was still too sick and exhausted to be bathed yet, so instead, when things had stabilized, Annie popped on a nappy and swaddled her in a bunny rug, popping a little pink hat on her head to keep her warm.
‘That’s better!’ Iosef came over with her notes and looked down at his patient. ‘She looks like a baby now.’ He shook his head at his own choice of words. ‘You know what I mean.’
And as curt and dismissive as he was with everyone else, he was incredibly tender with the baby. One very large finger stroked one very tiny cheek and Iosef actually smiled as the babe turned its head instinctively, rosebud lips searching for food.
‘Do you want me to