Mending Broken Hearts-2

Suspicions and Fighting

Here's another update. I couldn't stop writing!

"Hey guess what?" Lexie comes running up to me. "I'm on peds today. Babies. Yay."

"The NICU, not the nursery. It's not all sunshine and rainbows." I correct her.

"Oh, well, nothing is as intense as working on Derek's lost causes. It's like a death march up there." Lexie complains to me as we scrub in before entering the NICU. "I mean, I call time of death on a daily basis. What we got today?"

"You ever seen a baby that weighs less than a pound?" I ask her.

"Uh, no, because babies that weigh less than 16 ounces..." I lead her inside and she takes a breath. "Don't survive." She notices all of the babies connected to tubes and inside incubators. Fighting to get a chance to live. I go over and check on Alex's intern Morgan's baby. "My god. He's the size of a soda can." Lexie exclaims.

"He's 14 ounces." I inform her.

"But he's growing." Morgan states and I see her being wheeled in by her boyfriend.

"That might just be bloating from the fluids." Her boyfriend argues.

"Well, we'll take a look now won't we." I assure them as I check on their baby.

"How are you feeling Morgan?" Lexie asks.

"I...I'm the least of my worries." Morgan answers.

"You must be Chris. Cardio resident at Cleveland, right?" Lexie directs her attention to the baby.

"You talk about me?" Chris asks shocked.

"You don't talk about me?" Morgan teases him.

"Oh, you guys haven't had any time to pick out a name yet, huh?" Lexie states.

"No, we, uh...yeah we should do that. Any thoughts?" Morgan looks to Chris.

"We probably should wait a few weeks, don't you think until he can see and hear and breathe on his own?" Chris argues.

"14.3 ounces today." I announce to them.

"I told you he was bigger." Morgan says to Chris with a smile on her face.

"Let's see how that changes his outcome predictor." Chris states and Lexie looks at me confused.

"It's a formula for micro-preemies that determines their chances of survival. We don't use it here." I whisper to her.

"Why?"

"Nope." Chris exclaims with a frown on his face. "Chance of survival still a whopping 13%." Morgan's smile falls.

"That's why. The parents get too focused on the number and...it tanks the hope they have for their baby." I explain to her.

"Morning." Arizona walks in followed by Alex.

"Dr. Robbins, 14.3 today." Morgan informs her.

"Well, at least that's headed in the right direction. On the other hand Dr. Karev." She turns to Alex.

"We got the x-rays back, and he's developed NEC. His bowels are rotting, and unless we get in there and fix it..."

"The mortality rate of that surgery is over 50% in a preemie this size." Chris interrupts Alex.

"Yes, but the survival rate for treating NEC surgically has improved." I assure Chris and Morgan.

"Guys, hold on listen." Alex jumps in. "You've got plenty of decisions to debate down the line, too many. All right? This one's a no brainer. Dr. Benoist is right. This surgery has improved tremendously. You don't operate, he's gonna die, simple as that." Alex explains to them.