Presently
the physician was attempting to prevent the premature birth by
administering medication that could retard labor, to allow the
baby its final eight weeks of development in the womb.
Now, waiting to find out if the drugs would take effect, Peter
sat alone, wondering what he would do if the baby was born today,
or next week...or whenever, for that matter. Even if they
successfully postponed the birth, there was no running away from
the fact that it was his child. And what about Ivy? Would she ask
him to marry her? Who was the faulty party? Hadn't he known that
he had done the wrong thing? Hadn't he known afterwards that
things would never be the same again with Kate?
Kate. Their talk, before they had gone to dinner at the Holmeses'
for the first time, about wanting a baby. About wanting to settle
down, to marry. What would happen to him and Kate?
"Good morning, Mr. Jones," Dr. Chen said, snapping Peter's gaze
from the clock.
"How is she?"
"There's been a change. After her first round of medication the
contractions were less frequent, indicating that the pregnancy
would not proceed," the doctor explained.
"That's good news, right?"
"It was good. But Ivy has passed fluid. The amniotic sac is
leaking. Her labor has resumed. We have no choice but to see it
through."
"But the baby?"
"We don't know how much damage Ivy's drug abuse may have caused
the baby, or herself.
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