A Promise...to a Proposal?. Kate Hardy

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guess you’re right,’ she said. ‘I just didn’t want people to think that I was the Merry Widow, not caring about Tom. And I feel guilty about wanting to date again.’ She felt even more guilty about the fact that she was attracted to Ellis, particularly as he’d just made it clear it wasn’t reciprocated.

      ‘You’re always going to love him,’ Ellis said. ‘But at the end of the day life still goes on. And Tom didn’t want you to be lonely. He wanted you to be happy. What anyone else thinks is simply their opinion. They have the right to think whatever they like, but they don’t have the right to shove it down your throat. You do what makes you happy, Rubes.’

      Yeah.

      Though sometimes she wondered if she’d ever find that kind of happiness again. If she was being greedy and expecting too much. Some people didn’t even have that kind of happiness once in their lives, so what right did she have to expect to find it twice?

      Ellis reached over to squeeze her hand, and her skin tingled all the way up her arm.

      ‘Be happy, Ruby. You’ve got my full support. And if anyone says otherwise, send them to see me and I’ll put them straight.’

      He sounded as if he were her big brother.

      And she’d just have to learn to see him as a kind of sibling instead of the man she wanted to start dating.

      After lunch, Ruby called the Harrises in from the waiting area.

      ‘I was wondering—would you mind if Coral, my trainee midwife, came in and observed the procedure?’ she asked.

      ‘No, that’s fine, love,’ Mrs Harris said. ‘I’ll do whatever you want if you can get this baby to do that forward roll.’

      ‘I’ll do my best. Thank you.’ She smiled at Mrs Harris. ‘I’m going to check how the baby’s doing, first, on the ultrasound. If I’m happy with that, I’ll give you some drugs to relax your womb—it won’t hurt you or the baby, but it’ll mean your baby has a bit more room to do that forward roll.’

      ‘All right. Is that nice doctor going to be here?’

      ‘Dr Webster? Yes. He’s just making a quick phone call, and then he’ll be right here. And I’ll go and collect Coral so I can introduce her to you.’ Ruby smiled at her. ‘Lie back and bare your tummy for me. Though I’m afraid my gel’s a little bit colder than it is in the ultrasound suite.’

      ‘I don’t mind,’ Mrs Harris said, smiling back.

      Once Ruby had established that everything was fine, she moved the screen so that the Harrises could see the baby. ‘There he is—looking very comfy right now.’

      ‘Hopefully he won’t be stubborn and he’ll move,’ Mrs Harris said wryly.

      ‘I’ll give you those drugs now.’ Ruby administered them swiftly. ‘Make yourself comfortable, and I’ll be right back,’ she said.

      When she returned, Ellis was already there. Ruby introduced the Harrises to Coral.

      ‘So what we’re going to do today is an external cephalic version—ECV, for short. The idea is to move the baby’s bottom away from his mum’s pelvis,’ Ruby explained. ‘I’ve already given Mrs Harris some drugs to help relax her womb, and we’ve seen the baby on the ultrasound. What I’m going to do now, Mrs Harris, is to push firmly on your abdomen to encourage the baby to do a kind of forward roll. It’ll take maybe a minute to a minute and a half. As I said earlier, it might be a little bit uncomfortable but it shouldn’t hurt. If it does hurt, I need you to tell me straight away and I’ll stop.’

      ‘All right.’ Mrs Harris looked nervous, and Ruby noticed that she was holding her husband’s hand really tightly.

      ‘You might even see him do a forward roll in your tummy, so keep an eye on my hands,’ she said with a smile.

      Coral came quietly to the side so she could see and, gently but firmly, Ruby performed the manoeuvre, trying to ease the baby into a transverse position before he moved into the head-down position.

      But the baby stubbornly refused to move.

      After two minutes, Ruby stopped.

      ‘Is something wrong?’ Mr Harris asked anxiously.

      ‘No—just that this baby really doesn’t want to move today,’ Ruby said.

      ‘The longer the procedure takes, the less likely it is to work,’ Ellis explained. ‘But try not to worry. We can always try again tomorrow.’

      They checked the baby again with the ultrasound. ‘He’s doing just fine,’ Ellis reassured the Harrises. He glanced at the notes. ‘Actually, his heart rate is pretty much as it was before Ruby started the ECV, so I’m happy for you to go home now, or you can stay in the waiting room until you’re ready.’

      ‘If we try again tomorrow and it still doesn’t work, that means I’m going to have to have a section, doesn’t it?’ Mrs Harris asked.

      ‘Not necessarily,’ Ruby reassured her. ‘Remember what we said this morning. We can still try for a vaginal delivery if the ECV doesn’t work next time. We’ll just need a bit of patience.’

      ‘If it helps, I’ve delivered one or two breech babies in the middle of a field before now,’ Ellis added.

      ‘In the middle of a field?’ Mr Harris looked surprised.

      ‘I worked for a medical aid charity for a few years,’ Ellis said. ‘So I’ve delivered babies after natural disasters where there isn’t even any running water in the area.’

      Mrs Harris bit her lip. ‘And here I am, moaning about it all, when I know I’m going to have a comfortable bed and all the medical equipment anyone needs! That’s terrible. I feel…’ She grimaced. ‘Well, guilty, now.’

      ‘You really don’t need to. This is all new to you, and it’s perfectly natural that you’re concerned,’ Ellis said. ‘Actually, I’d be more concerned if you weren’t worried.’

      ‘I think she should have a section,’ Ian Harris said. ‘I looked up breech births on the Internet, and they said it’s likely that the baby’s head will get trapped or the baby will be brain-damaged.’

      ‘The Internet,’ Ellis said gently, ‘is full of scary stories. It’s the same with magazines—they’re going to tell you all about the unusual cases and the dramatic stuff, because it’s the drama that sells copies. They won’t tell you that most women have a perfectly safe, normal delivery. As Ruby says, you just need a bit of patience with a vaginal breech birth. I believe in being hands off and letting the mum set the pace, and I only intervene if there’s a problem.’

      ‘So I won’t have to have an episiotomy?’ Mrs Harris asked.

      ‘Hopefully not. We’ll see how it goes,’ Ellis said. ‘Though I will say that if your labour isn’t progressing after an hour, then I’ll recommend a section. In my experience, when labour doesn’t progress, it means there’s a complication and you need help.’

      ‘All right,’ Mrs Harris said.

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