Christmas Life and Death
By: Rocky Oberlin
Fandom: Gundam Wing
Pairing: 05x04
Summary: Wufei and Quatre are having a baby on Christmas Eve, but not all is well.
Archive: MPreg list and archive if you want, Wufei and Quatre list
Rating: PG (couple of swear words)
Parts: 1/1
Status: complete
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing and not all doctors act like the one portrayed here. This particular work of fiction is an extreme that I hope never to see in my life.
Authors notes: I don't know why I wrote this other than it was from the MPreg Challenge. I work as a CENA (nurse's aide) in a small hospital in the "backwater" of my area, so I wrote what I knew. Unfortunately I see the life and death of some people instead of seeing them leave on the road to health. I have been present for the aftermath of a stillborn baby and I have taken care of patients who have passed away. Like or hate, I don't care much, I wanted to show my take on a sadder birth. The rest of the time, I love holding the babies while their moms are walking or trying to rest.

'How can women go through something like this, almost everyday?' wondered Wufei. He held the hand of his love as Quatre gave another push. The midwife looked over at the nurse holding the unusual hermaphrodite's leg and then to the doctor pulling the new baby out. Wufei almost missed that look.

"The head's out and one shoulder. One more push and you'll be holding your baby before Christmas," announced the doctor. The nurse didn't say anything; she just held the leg and gave a small smile to encourage the married couple.

Quatre gave that last valiant push and the baby was out and showing to the world that she had her father's lungs. "She sounds like you when you get mad, love," whispered Quatre.

"At least she is screaming on key," joked Wufei. Even the quiet nurse quirked a smile at the soft-spoken jest.

"Here you are," said the doctor. "You get to know your daughter while I get the placenta out."

The midwife clamped the cord and Wufei cut it as the nurse turned from the side of Quatre's bed to get the warmed blankets from the baby warmer. She brought back two, one to dry the newborn with and one to carry her over to check her out and warm her up. Quatre smiled at the nurse and allowed his daughter to leave his stomach so the nurse could finish her job. Neither one of the parents really paid much attention to the conversation of the doctor and the midwife at the other end of the birthing bed.

"There's something wrong, he's bleeding too much," said the midwife.

"After we get the placenta out, we'll check it for gaps. It may be nothing."

On the other side of the room, the nurse listened to the quiet conversation while she put the name bands on the baby. She smiled at the measurements and weight before putting a diaper on the baby and wrapping her in several warm blankets. "Here you go, mommy." She handed the newborn to Quatre before turning to the monitor to start a blood pressure.

"Aren't you precious?" cooed Quatre at his new daughter.

Wufei leaned over his shoulder and smiled at the pair. "She's as precious as you, love." He glanced up at the alarm going off at the monitor the nurse was standing in front of. She quickly silenced it and wrote something down. "Thank you for the wonderful gift."

"A bit early, though," joked the doctor. "If she waited another hour, then it would have been Christmas." He picked the baby up from Quatre's arms and looked her over at the warmer. After he was done, he put the guards up and left the room to make out his paperwork.

The nurse glared at his back as he left before wrapping the baby back up and handing her to Wufei. "Why don't you hold onto your baby while Carry and I clean Quatre up?" Wufei stood back while Carry and the nurse cleaned the bed under Quatre. At one point the midwife shoved her fingers into Quatre's stomach at his belly button. She started to rub in circles while the nurse caught the gushing blood from Quatre's birth canal.

"Keep rubbing your stomach like that while we're gone. It will keep the uterus firm so you won't loose blood." The nurse wrote something else down before grabbing her papers and following the midwife out the door. Wufei was content to hear the "I'll be back in fifteen minutes". He wanted to be with his family.

~ * ~

Wufei was content to talk with his love and admire his new daughter. He noticed how Quatre looked paler than normal, but thought that it might have been from the hard labor and delivery. As promised the nurse did come back in fifteen minutes and fussed over Quatre again. She asked if he had been rubbing his stomach and did it herself when he shook his head no. She frowned at something and checked the pad Carry and she put under his butt. She replaced it quickly and threw the other away. After washing her hands, she left quickly with another reminder of being back soon and to rub Quatre's belly.

Carry came back with the nurse quicker than Wufei or Quatre expected. The nurse wheeled at crib in for their child to be put in and asked Wufei to step up to the head of the bed with Quatre. The two women (how can they be weak if they deal with all this?) check under Quatre again and Wufei caught the glimpse of a lot of blood soaking the pad under his husband.

"Is there something wrong?" asked Wufei.

"We don't know," said Carry. "This was a reason I had you come to the hospital. We're trying to get the doctor, but he isn't answering our pages."

The silent nurse took Quatre's blood pressure one more time and frowned at the alarm again. "It's dropping."

Carry gave an order to the nurse before walking out to a phone in the hall of the small hospital. She called the doctor over the intercom and waited not-so-patiently for an answer. After five minutes, she tried another number, then one more. During that time the nurse came back with an IV bag, which she hooked up to Quatre.

"What is that for?" asked the new mother.

"Medication to start your uterus cramping. It will slow the blood flow down." She hung the bag on the pole next to Quatre's bed and started the IV pump. Satisfied with what was happening, she put another bag on the pole and turned to the blond. "I'm going to have to start another IV site on you. You need something to hydrate you for when we get a hold of the doctor."

Wufei relinquished Quatre's other arm and watched the nurse insert a needle with practiced ease. She checked the site before hooking the other bag up to Quatre and letting it drip down the primed line.

Before leaving, the nurse checked the baby's temperature and Quatre's blood pressure. Something was definitely wrong.

~ * ~

It has been many years since the birth of Wufei's daughter, but he still remembers that night both fondly and with anger. The midwife and nurse had done all they could, but they couldn't stop the flow of blood coming from Quatre. They had moved him from the Obstetric Department to a Critical Care Unit and tried to get blood from the lab. The midwife tried several times to call the doctor to get the order for the blood, but he never answered any of his pages. Close to the end, the nurse felt Quatre's hand on her wrist and the quiet request to see his daughter and husband again. The nurse quickly left to get said persons and let them have a private moment alone.

It was the damn alarms that brought the midwife and the two nurses running into the room. The CCU nurse and the OB nurse immediately started CPR while the midwife called a Code overhead. Unfortunately, my beloved Quatre didn't make it. The Emergency Room doctor pronounced the time of death and the CCU nurse covered the shell of a once vibrant person. It was the OB nurse who showed me to a private room where I could hold my baby in peace. She looked at her watch and a few tears came down her cheeks. "Merry Christmas." A few more tears followed. "I wish we could have made it merrier."

I never blamed the midwife or the nurse for the loss of my Quatre. In fact, if it wasn't for a couple of Quatre's sisters and myself, I think that they would have lost their licenses to practice at the inquiry made by the backwater hospital. The doctor still practices there, but the midwife is now working for one of Quatre's other doctor sisters and the nurse works at a hospital closer to my new home. When she has a day off, she baby-sits my precious Rose while I go on short missions for the Preventors. The rest of the time I work behind a desk and let the unattached people risk their lives.

Everyday I thank God for nurses like the ones who helped me with Rose. They have hearts of gold and shoulders to support crying patients and burping babies.