5. Daddy's Girl

July 12, 1956

Matt Wheeler waited for Dr. Harris the next morning just outside the doors to the ICU. A nurse had already explained that there were strict regulations for visiting hours, in order for the patients to rest and for the nurses to give the necessary care. He paced back and forth, feeling helpless. He was a man of action, used to being in charge and giving the orders. He wanted to give some orders now, and to force the medical team to help Maddie. "Of course, what orders would I give?" he asked himself, running a hand through his thick red hair in frustration.

Moments later, Dr. Harris appeared. Although his eyes were bloodshot and pouched with weariness, he was freshly shaven and wore clean scrubs as well as an immaculate white coat.

"Good morning, Mr. Wheeler," he said, extending a hand to Matt. "I saw your wife an hour ago, and her condition was stable. If you'll come with me now, I will try to answer any questions you have about her condition and my plan of treatment."

Matt nodded. They walked into a small waiting room adjacent to the intensive care unit; Dr. Harris closed the door and indicated Matt was to sit down in one of the chairs.

"What would you like to know?" he began.

"First, how could this happen? Was there anything that could have prevented it? You said you needed to do a hysterectomy - does that mean my wife will never be able to have another child? How long --"

"Mr. Wheeler, I know you are terribly worried about your wife. Let me explain what happened. The majority of cases of placenta abruptio have no known cause. A small percentage of cases are associated with high blood pressure in the mother, or with smoking or cocaine use. I have reviewed Mrs. Wheeler's records carefully, and she never had an elevated blood pressure. She told me that she quit smoking as soon as she knew she was pregnant. She has no history of drug use. So she is one of the majority of women who present with no preexisting risk factors for placenta abruptio."

"That's true," responded Matt. "She did smoke a little - just a few cigarettes a day - before, but the day she found out she was pregnant, she threw her cigarettes away. She said it was bound to not be healthy, in spite of the placenta filtering everything out before it reached the baby. She wouldn't even let me smoke in the apartment. And of course she would never use cocaine!"

"I didn't suspect her of drug use. But I do see women sometimes who use it. Musicians, you know, or show business people -- it's more common in this city than you might think."

Dr. Harris continued his careful explanation. "The blood vessels where the surface of the placenta attaches to the inner surface of the uterus - or womb - are dilated or enlarged during pregnancy. Normally, after the baby is delivered, strong contractions of the muscle close off the blood vessels and the placenta detaches itself and is delivered a short time later. In your wife's case, the contractions were not effective because the abruption allowed blood to accumulate in the muscle wall of the uterus, causing it to remain large and boggy. Even with the administration of medications to contract the uterus, the bleeding continued. Finally, the only way to stop it was to remove the uterus - a hysterectomy. That does mean Mrs. Wheeler will never be able to have another child. Fortunately, I was able to leave her ovaries, so she won't experience immediate menopause. However, our priority right now is saving her life. You shouldn't have any trouble adopting if you want more children later."

Matt sat and listened in stunned silence. He vaguely remembered hearing some of this information yesterday. However, it still didn't seem real.

"Now, when a patient hemorrhages severely, as your wife did, she can go into shock. In a shock state, sometimes the blood doesn't clot properly. That is what happened yesterday. Medicine doesn't yet have the ability to isolate the factors in blood that regulate clotting. The only thing we can do is to give her whole blood and hope that the clotting factors will return to normal. I can't stress how critical this DIC condition is. Clotting and hemorrhages can affect lung or kidney function; or even cause loss of limbs. So far, Mrs. Wheeler's kidneys are performing well; we have her in oxygen because the hemorrhage reduces her body's ability to carry oxygen to all of the cells. I expect that if the DIC resolves in the next forty-eight hours, she will survive and return home. But she has a long road ahead of her. Would you like to see her now?"

"Yes, please." Although Matt's mind was reeling, he knew that he did want very much to see Maddie.

In a moment they stood next to the narrow bed where Matt had seen her the previous night. Matt could see no change. Blood still dripped through a tube into her arm from a bottle suspended over the bed. The arm was taped securely to a long board so that Maddie could not bend her elbow. He noticed again the ugly purple blotches on her skin, although he was relieved to see that they were not spreading. Her pale face was slightly fuzzy in the misty atmosphere of the oxygen tent, and the hissing and bubbling of a humidification unit, as well as a regular beeping from a heart monitor, caused a constant racket in the otherwise silent room.

"Nurse, how is she?" he inquired of the uniformed figure at the foot of Maddie's bed.

"Her blood pressure and pulse are stable. She is still sedated from anesthesia, but that should be wearing off in the next few hours. If you want to return at one o'clock, she may be awake." The nurse smiled reassuringly at him. "Why don't you sit down next to her and say something? Sometimes patients can hear us even if we don't think they are responding."

Matt found himself sitting in the small straight chair next to Maddie's bed. Suddenly he felt reluctant to touch her, to speak to her. She looked so frail that he felt a sudden dread of disturbing her or hurting her.

Clearing his throat, he finally covered her exposed hand with his, and said, "Darling, please rest and get better. I need you and so does our baby girl. She's really beautiful, Maddie, honey, and I can't wait for you to see her."

For several seconds, Matt studied his wife's face for a sign that she was able to hear him. Just when he was about to give up, he saw a flutter of her eyelids and felt a whisper-soft movement of her hand.

"Darling, I'm going to go now and see our daughter. I'll be back later." He rose and turned toward the nurse. "Thank you for everything you do. Please take good care of her." She showed him to the door and he headed toward the nursery.

***********************

Outside the nursery, Matt was in the midst of a heated discussion with a young nurse. He wanted to see and hold his daughter, but the nurse had told him fathers were only allowed to visit while the babies were in their mothers' rooms. There were no facilities for him to visit the baby alone, since all of the patient rooms were full.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wheeler, but those are the rules." Her arms were folded firmly against her chest.

Matt's face was flushed with frustration. "How in blazes can I visit my daughter while she is in her mother's room?" he asked angrily. "Her mother is in intensive care and she may ... may … I can't wait that long!" His face twisted in a grimace as he fought not to give in to his fears.

"What's all of this commotion, Miss Kelley?" inquired a plump, gray-haired nurse who had come up behind Matt. He noticed that her name tag said Nursery Head Nurse. He was about to speak when the young nurse blurted out, "Oh, Miss Reid, this gentleman wants to visit with his baby. The mother is in intensive care and so I told him it was out of the question. We don't have any empty rooms to put him in."

Miss Reid's face cleared. She smiled at Matt and said, "Miss Kelley, we do have rules, but now and then, we must bend the rules to help our patients and families. You must be Mr. Wheeler. Sir, if you will come with me and show me some identification, I will have you wash up and get into a gown. We have a little work area in the nursery where you can sit and hold your baby."

Matt followed Miss Reid and tried not to take pleasure in the young nurse's discomfiture. The kindly, grandmotherly nurse showed him a sink and antiseptic solution to wash with, and pulled out a voluminous gown with long sleeves and ties at the waist. Once she had helped him into it, she tied a surgical mask on his face and placed a stockinet cap on his head. Then she indicated he was to sit in a large wooden rocking chair which she had pulled into the work area. With a broad smile on her face, she rolled a bassinet into the room and lifted out a tiny bundle wrapped in a pink blanket.

"Here is your daughter, Mr. Wheeler. I'll place her in your arms. The important thing to remember is to support her head."

Matt was nervous and he could feel himself beginning to perspire under the bulky gown. But he was anxious to hold his daughter, and listened carefully as Miss Reid instructed him in holding her; she then brought in a bottle of formula and showed Matt how to offer it to the baby. Soon she was sucking eagerly from the rubber nipple.

"Mr. Wheeler, I know your wife is extremely ill. Dr. Harris came by this morning and said she would be in intensive care for a week or more. He told me that she had wanted to breastfeed, but in her condition, she won't be able to do that. He also asked me to arrange for you to visit with your daughter at least once a day. We may find another area for that, but for now, I thought it best if we improvised. It's very important for parents to spend time with a new baby."

Matt felt a tremendous relief to find that the hospital was going to help him be with his baby girl. He began to feel the slightest faith that Maddie would improve and the world could return to its normal state. When the baby stopped sucking, Miss Reid took her from him and burped her. Matt decided he should try to go to his office and check on things. It would also be necessary to call Maddie's mother and sister to give them the news.

 

back next

Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional