Unwrapping Her Italian Doc Read Free Page B

and Luke. Hannah had been a patient on the ward for a couple of weeks now so introductions had long since been done.
    Hannah was lying on her side and clearly felt uncomfortable.
    ‘It really hurts.’
    ‘I know that it does,’ Louise said, showing Luke a nice spot to rub on the bottom of Hannah’s back, but Hannah kept pushing his hand away.
    ‘Do you want to have a little walk?’ Louise offered, and at first Hannah shook her head but then agreed. Louise sorted out the drip and got her up off the delivery bed and they shuffled up and down the corridor, sometimes silent between contractions, when Hannah leant against the wall, other times talking.
    ‘I still can’t believe we’ll have a baby for Christmas,’ Hannah said.
    ‘How exciting.’ Louise smiled. ‘Have you shopped for the baby?”
    ‘Not yet!’ Hannah shook her head. ‘Didn’t want the bad luck.’ She leant against the wall and gave a very low moan and then another one.
    ‘Let’s get you back,’ Louise said, guiding the drip as Luke helped his wife.
    Hannah didn’t like the idea of sitting on a birthing ball—in fact, she climbed back onto the delivery bed and went back to lying on her side as Louise checked the baby’s heart, which was fine.
    ‘You’re doing wonderfully, Hannah,’ Louise said.
    ‘I can’t believe we’re going to get our baby,’ Hannah said. ‘We tried for ages.’
    ‘I know that you did,’ Louise said.
    ‘I’m so lucky to have Anton,’ Hannah said. ‘He got me pregnant!’
    Louise looked over at Luke and they shared a smile because at this stage of labour women said the strangest things at times, only Louise’s smile turned into a slight frown as Luke explained what she’d meant. ‘Anton was the one who put back the embryo …’
    ‘Oh!’ Louise said, more than a little surprised, because that was something she hadn’t known—yes, of course he would deal with infertility to a point, but itwas a very specific specialty and for Anton to have performed the embryo transfer confused Louise.
    ‘He was a reproductive specialist in Milan, one of the top ones,’ Luke explained further, when he saw Louise’s frown. ‘We thought we were getting a fill-in doctor when Richard, the specialist overseeing Hannah’s treatment, got sick, but it turned out we were getting one of the best.’ He looked up as Anton came in. ‘I was just telling Louise that you were the one who got Hannah pregnant.’
    Anton gave a small smile of acknowledgement of the conversation then he turned to Louise. ‘How is she?’
    ‘Very well.’
    Anton gave another brief nod and went to examine Hannah.
    Hannah was doing very well because things soon started to get busy and by four o’clock, just when Louise should be heading home to get ready for tonight, she was cheering Hannah on.
    ‘Are you okay, Louise?’ Brenda popped her head in to see if Louise wanted one of the late staff to come in and take over but instead Louise smiled and nodded. ‘I’m fine, Brenda,’ Louise said. ‘We’re nearly there.’
    She would never leave so close to the end of a birth, Anton knew that, and she was enthusiastic at every birth, even if the mother was in Theatre, unconscious.
    ‘How much longer?’ Hannah begged.
    ‘Not long,’ Louise said. ‘Don’t push, just hold it now.’ Louise was holding Hannah’s leg and watched as the head came out and Anton carefully looped a rather thin and straggly umbilical cord from around the baby’s neck.
    She and Anton actually worked well in this part. Anton liked how Louise got into it and encouraged thewoman no end, urging her on when required, helping him to slow things down too, if that was the course of action needed. This was the case here, because the baby was only thirty-five weeks and also rather small for dates.
    ‘Oh, Hannah!’ Louise was ecstatic as the shoulders were delivered and Anton placed the slippery bundle on Hannah’s stomach and Louise rubbed the baby’s back. They all watched as he