Miracle Lost?

The paramedics took five minutes to arrive. It felt like hours to the officers in the room and Malibu. The young officer kept his hand on her belly the entire time, hoping to feel the baby move. So far, he felt nothing. He continuously talked to her. He was praying she would wake up and answer back.

They rolled the gurney into the apartment. The officers cleared a path for them.

"Holy shit, it looks like a warzone in here," the first medic said.

He looked at the guy on the floor with a shocked expression. "He looks like he was hit with an IED. I have never seen anything like this," he said.

The man was in and out of consciousness. "Bruh, she fucked you up. Like you might need to eat out of a tube fucked up," he said.

"A little professionalism, Danny," the other medic said. "You're not wrong. But we must be impartial."

"Sorry, Keith," he said. "Oh, detective. My God. He did a job on her face."

The other medics arrived. The same comments were made. The officers parted and let the medics in.

"He did a number one here, too. She fought hard. Her injuries are serious. Knife wound to the cheek and multiple head trauma. She's bleeding from the ear. We need to get her out of here, NOW," Keith said. "We'll start the lines in the Ambo."

The officer holding her looked up. He removed his hand. The medics saw her swollen belly.

"I don't feel anything. I think something is wrong," Geraci's voice quivered slightly.

No, no, no, no, no, no!

Malibu was pacing back and forth. His hands were clasped around the top of his head.

The two medics and two officers gently put her on the backboard, lifted her onto the gurney, and buckled her in. The officers carefully helped the medics get her down the stairs and loaded her into the Ambulance.

Malibu hopped into the ambulance with her. She just lay there, her body being jostled around. They closed the door and hit it twice.

"JUDY! GET US OUT OF HERE!" Keith yelled to the female medic driving the RA.

She took off. The sirens were blaring. They were attempting to find somewhere to put the IV lines in. She swayed back and forth with every turn, bouncing with every pothole. Danny got the line in. Keith was putting leads on her to check her EKG. After the line was put in, he took the Doppler and tried to find the baby's heartbeat.

"I don't hear anything, Danny!"

You're not looking in the right place! Malibu was screaming uselessly.

"I can't find anything."

"We're bumping around so much, and I am not surprised. Just keep looking, Keith!"

Yeah, Keith, just keep looking. The Peanut is little.

Danny was packing her cheek with gauze. "She needs more O2; her sats are dropping," Danny said. "Shit! She's in VFib."

"Get the AED!" Keith yelled.

"How much longer till we arrive, Judy!"

"Going as fast as I can."

Malibu sat there watching the chaos unfold. She can't lose that baby!

Keith had started CPR. Her body jumped with every chest compression. Danny applied the pads to her chest.

Oh my God. Holy fuck. Allie, you did not make it through a decade in hell for you to die in fucking Cleveland!

The AED announced the user to stand back and press the button to deliver the shock.

"CLEAR!" Danny yelled.

Keith stopped CPR and backed off. He raised his hands, and Danny hit the button to administer the shock. Her chest constricted.

"Still not in normal rhythm! Do it again!" he yelled over the wail of the sirens.

"Push one unit of epinephrine!" Danny yelled back.

Keith pushed the medication into the IV port and continued CPR.

"Shocking second time. CLEAR!"

"Still nothing!"

"God damn it!"

ALLIE! ALLIE! COME BACK TO ME, ALEXSANDRA GRACE! I LOVE YOU, BUT IT IS NOT YOUR TIME!

The ambulance pulled into the bay at the hospital. Half a dozen employees were waiting. When they came to a stop, the back door was open. Inside, they were still performing CPR. They pulled the gurney out. Danny was on top of her performing compressions, and Keith was bagging her.

"1,2,3 squeeze, 1,2,3, squeeze."

"Talk to me," the doctor said.

They were rushing her inside to the ED in a flurry of chaos.

"Female, mid-thirties, pregnant, 31 weeks. She has been down for 4 minutes. Shocked 2 times, 1 amp of epinephrine. I tried to find a fetal heartbeat; I was unsuccessful. Head trauma, broken orbital bone, laceration to the cheek, broken right hand."

The gurney came to a halt in the large treatment room. Danny got off her. A nurse took over the bagging from Keith. One of the attendings grabbed a laryngoscope, opened her mouth, and gently guided the tube down her throat into her airway. The small balloon was inflated, keeping the tube in place. The nurse connected the resuscitation bag and started the 1,2,3, squeeze rhythm. The defibrillator was charged. The doctor put the paddles on her chest.

"Clear."

All the staff stepped back and put their hands up. It took two shocks. A nurse held a stethoscope to Allie's chest.

"Dr. Manning. Pneumothorax."

"I need a thoracotomy tray, Fran, 28 French! Go! Go!"

Fran ran over and handed him the tray.

Dr. Manning opened her side at the inframammary fold (which provides inferior support for the breast and defines the overall breast shape and structure). He placed the tube between the mid-arterial auxiliary line in the 5th intercostal spacing, tracking above the rib so as not to damage the intercostal bundle (artery, vein, and nerve).

Blood flowed from the tube and spattered on the floor.

"Where the hell is my basin? I'm going to be slipping all over the place!" Dr. Manning yelled, his voice booming in the room.

"Paddles!"

The other attending, Dr. Kress, yelled at no one in particular.

"Resume compressions!"

"The patient is still in VTac. Shockable rhythm!" a nurse yelled.

Doctor Kress positioned the paddles on the upper right sternal border just below the clavicle, and one was positioned at the cardiac apex (below the left breast).

"Charge to 140 joules. Clear."

Everybody stepped back and raised their hands.

"Still in Vfib."

"Charged to 160. Resume CPR. Let's get an amp of EPI over here."

"EPI is in."

"Clear."

"I've got a pulse. It's weak and thready, but it's there," she said.

"I want a fetal monitor put--" the doctor said was cut off.

"Doctor!" the nurse pointed to the basin."

"Screw the monitor! We have a ruptured spleen, people! Call the O.R. and call down to the blood bank. We need 4 four units of O negative! Let's move it! Move it! Move it!" Dr. Manning shouted rhythmically.

Dean and Alex stood in clear view of the elevator and saw the gurney aggressively pushed to the elevator.

"Oh my God. That was her. Did you see all that blood? It's everywhere."

"Her face. I can't even be sure that was her."

"No, it's her."