Criminal (Muke)

29

Luke was speeding, trying to get to hospital as fast as possible. It was a thirty minute drive, and I tried explaining that I was only seven months along, that Dylan was still fine. That he still had two months until he was coming. Of course, he didn't listen.

Another contraction hit and I groaned.

"We're almost there, you should slow down." I suggested.

"No. We need to be as fast as we can." He stated.

"Luke, what's going on?" I demanded.

"I'm not quite sure." He replied.

"Luke..." I was beginning to worry.

"Don't worry, Michael. It's bad for Dylan." He reminded me. I couldn't help but worry, though.

I tried distracting myself by looking at the trees and stuff outside, but another contraction hit and I frowned. What was wrong with my son?

I placed a hand on my baby bump.

"Is our baby gonna be okay?" I worried. He didn't even look at me or shrug or anything, just continued looking at the road and speeding.

I looked at my large bump.

"I love you, Dylan. Please be okay." I didn't understand what was going on, all I knew was that there was something wrong. All I could do was hope that my baby was going to be alright and that whatever was wrong wasn't too serious.

I could see the hospital, and Luke sped up a little more.

"Luke, it's gonna be okay."

He shrugged; at least I was getting a response now. Even if it was just a shrug.

Finally, we pulled into the hospital parking lot. Luke turned the car off as I got another contraction. I groaned a little bit and he frowned.

"Ready?" He asked, opening his door. I opened my door and placed my right hand on my baby bump, Luke taking my left hand.

"What's wrong, Luke?" I asked again.

"Babe, don't worry about it." He told me. I sighed as we entered the hospital.

"Sit down, I'll check us in." He said. I sat in one of the chairs and Luke walked up to the counter.

"Michael, come here." Luke said. I stood up and walked over to the counter, and the young receptionist smiled.

"How far apart are your contractions?" She asked.

"Three minutes maybe?" I guessed, I hadn't been timing them. Her smile dropped.

"And you're seven months?" She checked, and I nodded.

"Stay right here." She told us, picking up the phone.

"Who's your doctor?" She asked us.

"Doctor Miller." Luke replied.

She nodded and dialed a number.

"I need to speak to Doctor Miller immediately." She said. I frowned, looking at Luke. He shook his head at me, still not wanting me to worry and harm the baby.

"Okay, I'll call him on his cell... Thank you." The receptionist said into the phone.

She dialed another number, and waited for our doctor to answer.

"I need you in. Now." She stated.

"Because he's seven months along with contractions every three minutes or so... Yes, sir... Okay, thanks..." she said, hanging up.

"He told me to get you set up with a nurse, he's on his way." She told us. We nodded.

"What's wrong with my baby?" I demanded.

"We're not sure yet, it's going to take an ultrasound, maybe more, to know." She informed me. I frowned.

"Why is it so urgent? What's going on?" I asked.

"It isn't normal to be having contractions like this until nine months, or close to then. You're showing some dangerous signs." She informed me. Luke frowned.

A nurse came and called us, and we followed her to get my weight and vitals. She set us up in a room, informing us that Dr. Miller would be arriving in five to ten minutes.

"Luke, I'm so worried." I stated when the nurse left. Another contraction ran through me and I whined.

"Don't worry." He answered, taking my hand and rubbing it with his thumb soothingly.

"What if he isn't okay? Please tell me why you made me come to the hospital?" I begged. I needed to know what was going on with my son.

"I can't promise he'll be okay, but we came to the hospital so, hopefully he's going to be fine. I looked up your symptoms to see why you were sick and what was wrong and it brought up a few different possibilities, I just need to be sure he's okay." He told me.

I nodded, rubbing my bump. Dylan kicked back once, so I took it as comfort. He was going to be okay.

The doctor walked in and looked at us.

"We're going to do an ultrasound, okay?" He asked, the nurse that checked us in by his side. I nodded.

The nurse, quickly but gently, spread the cold gel onto my stomach.

She did the usual procedure and the baby came up, bigger than last time we got to see him. He was precious.

The doctor examined it for a moment before asking her to move it to a certain place.

"We need to hear his heartbeat." The doctor said.

He did what he needed to do, and Dylan's heartbeat filled the room. Usually, Luke and I would both smile at the sound. But not this time. It was different this time. Faster, much faster. It didn't sound normal, or even healthy for that matter. The temporary comfort I had was again replaced with concern.

"Mr. Hemmings?" The doctor asked, and both of us looked from my baby bump to him.

"Yes?"

"The um, the placenta is becoming detached."