Welcome to the world

Part 2

"Dec, Declan, I was just speaking to the doctor, they're going to keep the baby under observation for the night and then it will be ready to be discharged... Dec? ... that's good news isn't it?" Dec clearly hadn't been listening to the first half to any of what Ant had said, and looked up at Ant with glassy sorrowful eyes. He was sat in a fold up chair attached to the wall of a corridor in the hospital. Dec's foot was bouncing up and down violently against the floor, trembling with fear. Ant felt his heart breaking for Dec, but knew he had to speak to him. "Dec I need you to listen to me..." Dec's terrified eyes felt as though they were boring holes into Ant's soul but he continued regardless." What's happened is so awful and horrible, and I understand while we wait to hear how the surgery is going it's just shit... But you need to understand, you're a dad now... that beautiful little baby downstairs is completely dependent on you." Ant scrubbed a hand across his brow as a silent tear escaped Dec's eye- Ant knew he was being harsh, but he had to be.

After quite a long moment of silence, Ant sighed as he took the seat next to Dec and leaned his head against the wall.

" I don't think I can do it... not without her. I c-cant Ant...please I can't have it." Dec's statement was broken up between sobs, but the intention was expressly clear to Ant.

"Dec, your being stupid now, that baby is yours no matter what. And we will all be here for you, but it is yours and there's no hiding it... no running away."

"But I can't Ant... please I don't want it!" Dec buried his face in his hands as floodgates broke and he collapsed into the sobs.

"Dec... for Ali, what would she want?" Dec paused for a second, and then continued to sob, leaning into Ant's side as he did. In his heart of hearts, Dec knew Ant was right but this was the hardest night of his life and he couldn't face that thought at the moment.

"Mr Donnelly, I am Dr Blake, your wife's surgeon. I think its best if we go into the relatives' room where it's a bit more quite. If you'd like to follow me." Ant put a protective arm around Dec, pulling him up, and not liking the atmosphere the doctor was giving off. Dr Blake was a tubby, 60 year old man- with bright red rosy cheeks- and because of his size, his walk was more comparable to a penguin walking than anything else. The room wasn't very far at all, but Ant kept his arm round Dec the whole way, and as the crossed the threshold both boys held their breath with fear.

"Take a seat." The doctor said as he ushered to a long, deep purple sofa. Both boys sat obligingly, yet they were both on the edge of their seat, to the extent that they were more perching off the end. "So, as you know, your wife suffered a primary post-partum bleed, due to a condition of the placenta called placenta accreta. She lost a very serious amount of blood so we transfused 3 units, but the bleed was very severe. I am very sorry but we had to perform and double hysterectomy on your wife. This means we took the reproductive system out, and she will not be able to conceive or carry a child again. However, most importantly we are expecting a full recovery, though it might take a lot of rehabilitation to get her back on her feet- it's all looking up in my opinion."

Ant felt the biggest relief wash over his body. The way the doctor was speaking it had sounded like she'd died! Dec immediately started crying again, but Ant was sure it was tears of joy.

"Thankyou doctor, thankyou so much!" Ant spoke softly, as he held out his hand to shake the doctors- Dec was in no state to be able to express his equal gratitude.

"Just doing the job... Alison is still in surgery at the moment, my colleagues are finishing up and then she will be taken to recovery. It will still be 2 hours before you can see her, may I suggest you try and get some rest?" The doctor was proving to be a very wise man, and Ant appreciated the help to cajole Dec into remembering him to look after himself too. "With a newborn and supporting your wife, it is going to be a challenge. Also, we don't expect Alison to wake up until into tomorrow..." The doctor paused as he spoke, checked his watch before back tracking. "sorry, I mean this evening... so please don't be alarmed, it has just been a massive trauma on her body." Ant nodded along, the doctor was ever so professional and seemed very kind. "I should be off, but just to reiterate, please get some rest." And with that the doctor, stood and left the room, giving Ant a parting glance as he did, while Dec buried his face in his hands once again. Ant assumed they both must look like shit, going by how the doctor was so insistant on getting rest- to be fair, it was about 4 in the morning.