Chapter 57

Chapter 57

"Well, that's..."

Moon Hyejin.

She was a patient who traveled a considerable distance by intercity bus to receive treatment at Gain's clinic.

There was a tertiary medical institution in her hometown, Daewon City: Daewon University Hospital. Yet she had chosen to come all the way here.

She had repeatedly said that she did not trust Daewon University Hospital.

It was only during her last appointment that she finally explained why.

She looked so much like her younger sister.

Her younger twin sister had died while giving birth at Daewon University Hospital the previous year.

Hyejin had shown Gain a wedding photograph of herself standing beside her heavily pregnant sister.

Even now, the cause of her sister's death had not been clearly established. Hyejin and her brother-in-law were still involved in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

"You said you'd start delivering babies on Monday. Today's Sunday, so everything should be ready by now, shouldn't it?"

Moon Hyejin's voice trembled.

Come to think of it, she always became unusually quiet whenever childbirth came up during her appointments.

"Could you tell me exactly what's been leaking?"

"I wrote everything down earlier. Just a moment."

Gain heard what sounded like Hyejin flipping through a notebook.

"I ate abalone porridge at seven this evening. Around eight forty, I was washing the dishes when my underwear got wet."

"I completely soaked two regular sanitary pads. And whenever I stand up after sitting or sit up after lying down, more comes out. I can't control it."

Two completely soaked sanitary pads?

That was not a bloody show.

Gain frowned.

"Hyejin, are you having contractions?"

"My stomach started feeling tight and uncomfortable after lunch."

"How far apart are they?"

"Just a moment."

The sound of pages turning came through the phone again.

"At first, maybe twice an hour? They were bearable. Around dinnertime, they started coming every ten minutes. After I finished washing the dishes..."

Moon Hyejin stopped speaking.

Gain heard her draw in a sharp breath.

Then silence.

She looked at her wristwatch.

A long silence followed.

It was more than forty seconds before Moon Hyejin finally let out a long breath.

"Sorry. They're every five minutes now. The baby was kicking earlier, too."

Gain wrote the information in her notebook.

[12:30 p.m.: Contractions 30 minutes apart.]

[6:00 p.m.: Contractions 10 minutes apart.]

[9:40 p.m.: Contractions 5 minutes apart, lasting 40 seconds.]

First-time mothers often had difficulty distinguishing true labor from false labor.

Some came to the hospital too early.

Others came too late.

Moon Hyejin appeared to belong to the second group.

Gain would need to perform a pelvic examination to be certain, but it sounded as though the baby had already descended quite far.

"Hyejin, that's not a bloody show. Your water has broken."

The other end of the call went quiet.

Hyejin seemed to gasp in surprise.

"Then I'm not giving birth on Monday?"

"We can't wait until Monday. You could give birth tonight."

Thirty-seven weeks and one day.

When the membranes ruptured before thirty-seven weeks, it was called preterm premature rupture of membranes. In those cases, the mother needed to deliver at a hospital with a neonatal intensive care unit.

Gain thought for a moment.

If Hyejin had been at thirty-six weeks, she would have recommended a university hospital without hesitation.

But she was now just over thirty-seven weeks.

A private clinic could handle a delivery at this stage.

Even so, babies born at thirty-seven weeks had a higher risk of respiratory problems because the fluid remaining in their lungs could take longer to clear.

Transient tachypnea of the newborn was the most common problem, and in rare cases, respiratory distress syndrome could develop.

"Hyejin, go straight to the emergency department at Daewon University Hospital. It's the closest hospital to you."

"The baby is still a little early, so you need to be somewhere with a neonatal intensive care unit nearby."

We don't have a pediatrician at our clinic.

Besides, the delivery room was not completely ready yet.

"I'm not going."

The mother refused firmly.

"I won't go there. That's the hospital we're suing right now. My sister died there."

"Then how about Hanguk University Second Campus Hospital? I'll call them in advance."

"I want to come to you, Doctor. Please deliver my baby."

Moon Hyejin fell silent again.

Gain checked her wristwatch.

Another forty seconds.

"I'll check a few things and call you back within ten minutes."

"In the meantime, lie down and keep a pad in place. If the fluid turns yellow or green, if you develop a fever, or if you feel something protruding from below, go to the nearest hospital immediately."

"Promise me that much."

"Okay."

After the call ended, the duty room became quiet.

Gain mentally reviewed everything they had ready.

All the equipment had arrived.

The delivery table, fetal monitor, and neonatal warmer had all passed their tests.

However, the wall-mounted oxygen system could not be used until Monday, when the contractor was scheduled to complete the final inspection and obtain approval.

If the oxygen piping had not been delayed by the spacing problem, the work would have been completed on Friday.

Oxygen isn't the biggest problem.

They could use the portable backup oxygen cylinder.

The most important concern was staffing.

Gain opened the on-call anesthesiologist list first.

If they needed to perform surgery and no anesthesiologist was available, their only option would be to call an ambulance.

The first name on the list was Kim Jaeheon, an anesthesiology fellow at Hanguk University Hospital.

He answered almost before the phone had time to ring.

"I'm on duty at the main hospital right now."

That explained why he had answered so quickly.

Gain sighed, but Kim Jaeheon continued.

"Seunggu can go tonight. I can personally guarantee his skills. Just don't be surprised by the way he talks."

Ma Seunggu was the anesthesiologist Kim Jaeheon had introduced. So far, he had only signed and returned his on-call contract.

Gain had never met him or even heard his voice.

Less than a minute after she hung up, an unfamiliar number appeared on her phone.

"Director Im Gain? This is Ma Seunggu. How many oxygen cylinders do you have?"

He spoke with a strong Jeolla accent.

"One. We can't use the wall oxygen until it passes its final inspection on Monday, and we're running on temporary power."

"One cylinder and temporary power, huh?"

Gain heard a pen clicking on the other end.

"All right. I'll be there in an hour."

Next came the nurses.

Bae Sora answered after five rings.

Gain heard a blanket being pushed aside before Sora spoke.

"Director?"

Sora did not interrupt once while Gain explained the situation.

"I'll be there within fifteen minutes."

Oh Dayoung answered on the second ring.

"Thirty-seven weeks and one day? I'll get ready and come over. Give me forty minutes."

Rustling immediately followed.

It sounded as though she was already changing clothes.

Gain then called the direct number for the emergency department at Hanguk University Second Campus Hospital.

"This is Im Gain from Hyundai OB-GYN Clinic in Somang City. I have a first-time mother at thirty-seven weeks and one day whose membranes have ruptured during labor."

"We're planning to handle the delivery here, but if she needs surgery or the newborn requires additional treatment, we'll transfer her to you immediately."

"Yes, understood."

The voice sounded familiar.

"Director Im Gain? The doctor who transferred that patient with placenta previa?"

"Yes."

"I'm Do Gyeonga, a fourth-year emergency medicine resident. If you need to transfer her, please call this number when the ambulance leaves."

"We've been instructed to report your transfers directly to Professor Kim Dohyeon."

Gain fell silent for a moment.

Pyo Jinwoo had told her that Professor Kim had presented Eunchae's case at a conference.

She had not realized that he had also issued instructions to the Second Campus emergency department.

"Thank you. I'll do that."

There were two minutes left before the ten minutes she had promised Hyejin were up.

Gain called her again.

"Hyejin, come to the clinic."

There was no immediate answer.

Gain continued.

"But you have to promise me something."

"What is it?"

"I've called an anesthesiologist so we can perform surgery here if necessary."

"But if something happens that we can't handle, you'll have to go to a university hospital."

"If that happens, I'll ride in the ambulance with you."

"If you'll come with me..."

Moon Hyejin repeated those words before finally exhaling.

"I'll take a taxi."

"Call me as soon as you've found one. Keep recording how far apart your contractions are on the way."

"Okay. I'll write everything down."

I'm going to deliver this baby myself.

Gain had met Moon Hyejin's parents.

She had met her husband too.

They were still grieving the daughter and sister-in-law they had lost the previous year.

Gain could not let them lose another daughter.

Another wife.

Above all, she now had plenty of divine power.

It was nowhere near the amount she had possessed in the other world, but the spring in her chest was full enough to fill an entire teacup.

She had been collecting it lately without using much.

She could handle most emergencies herself.

They also had emergency blood for transfusions, and an anesthesiologist would be present if a C-section became necessary.

***

10:15 p.m.

Bae Sora arrived first.

The shutter had been raised only halfway, so she ducked beneath it to enter.

Beneath her padded jacket, she was still wearing her pajama top.

"I'll go change."

The fluorescent lights in the delivery room flickered before coming on.

Bae Sora immediately rolled up her sleeves.

As she removed the instrument covers one by one, forceps and scissors clinked against their trays.

The wall oxygen outlet still had a [Do Not Use] label attached.

Gain turned the oxygen-cylinder valve half a turn.

The gauge showed that it was full.

The wall clock was stopped at 2:10.

They had not installed its battery yet.

Bae Sora brought a battery, inserted it, and set the correct time.

Then she took out the delivery record sheet and wrote a number in the first box.

10:30 p.m.

Gain's phone rang.

"I'm in the taxi. The contractions are four minutes apart."

"Are you alone? Where's your guardian?"

"My husband's in Geoje. At the shipyard. I called him, and he said he'd come straight up."

Gain calculated how long it would take to travel from Geoje to Somang City.

Even if he drove through the night, he would not arrive until dawn.

"Keep recording the contractions. Call me immediately if anything happens."

"Okay."

Gain heard Moon Hyejin catch her breath on the other end.

The call ended.

10:40 p.m.

Oh Dayoung arrived, exactly forty minutes after she had promised.

She stood in front of the neonatal warmer with her arms folded, examining its buttons for some time.

"I haven't used this model before."

"The manual is in the drawer."

Oh Dayoung did not open the drawer.

Instead, she pressed the power switch, watched the temperature display begin to rise, then turned it off again.

Next, she took out the suction catheters, arranged by size, and checked each one with her fingertips.

"Did Hanguk University's NICU say they have a bed available?"

"They had one when I asked earlier."

Gain answered.

11:00 p.m.

The delivery-room door opened again.

The man standing in the doorway wore surgical scrub pants, a stretched-out gray hoodie, and slippers bearing the name of another hospital.

He carried a convenience-store bag in one hand and had a pencil case decorated with cartoon characters tucked under his arm.

The hair at the back of his head was flattened into the shape of a pillow.

For a moment, Gain thought someone had taken a wrong turn on his way to a convenience store.

"Ma Seunggu. How much does the mother weigh?"

He began with a question instead of a greeting.

"She weighed sixty-two kilograms at her last appointment. She's 158 centimeters tall."

"When did she last eat?"

"Abalone porridge at seven this evening."

Only then did Ma Seunggu look directly at Gain.

"Well, I'll be. Never met an OB-GYN doctor who'd already asked about that."

Without waiting for a reply, he walked around the room, folding down his fingers one by one as he checked each item.

Cool divine power surged inside Gain.

"Machine."

He switched on the anesthesia machine, blocked the end of the breathing circuit with his palm, and turned on the oxygen.

The breathing bag inflated tightly.

"Suction. Monitor. Airway."

He unzipped his pencil case.

Instead of pencils, it contained laryngoscope blades of different sizes.

The smallest blade was barely as large as a little finger.

"Can't trust another hospital's blades. IV. Drugs."

He read the labels on the medication cabinet aloud.

He tapped the oxygen-cylinder gauge with his fingernail.

Finally, he opened the electrical distribution panel.

After reading the numbers on the circuit breaker, he clicked his tongue.

"Fifteen amps. This entire room is connected to that one breaker."

"The contractor said the fluorescent lights and two or three outlets should be fine."

"The outlets the contractor's talking about are for charging phones."

"That warmer draws as much power as an electric heater. If you run the anesthesia machine, the warmer, and the monitor together, that breaker will trip."

He turned toward Bae Sora and Oh Dayoung.

"If we go into surgery, who's going to turn off the monitor? Decide that now. It'll be too late if you wait until then."

Bae Sora and Gain looked at Oh Dayoung simultaneously.

"I'll do it."

"Good."

Ma Seunggu took a triangular rice ball out of his convenience-store bag.

He had brought three.

All tuna mayonnaise.

When Gain brought up his standby fee, he waved her off while removing the wrapper.

"If we do surgery, you can pay me. If we don't, just cover the cost of my rice balls."

Then he spent a long moment looking at the unopened vacuum-extraction equipment and the protective covering laid across the floor.

"Three hospitals I used to take calls for stopped handling deliveries this year alone."

"Didn't Somang City's last delivery hospital close about six months ago too?"

"Everyone else is closing, but I heard this place was opening."

"Is that why you signed the contract?"

"When Jaeheon introduced the job, that was the first thing he told me. He said it was a new delivery unit."

Ma Seunggu pushed the rest of his rice ball into his mouth.

"I'm tired of going around pulling the plug on things."

"I came here to get things running, so I like it."

He pulled a round stool beside the anesthesia machine, sat down, and immediately closed his eyes.

Oh Dayoung switched on the warmer to have it ready before the baby arrived.

As soon as its fan began running, Ma Seunggu spoke without opening his eyes.

"Warmer's on? Then keep the monitor off until the mother arrives."

"Can't turn off the anesthesia machine. Run all three, and the breaker will trip."

Oh Dayoung turned off the monitor.

11:20 p.m.

Gain's phone rang.

Moon Hyejin's number.

"Hyejin?"

Instead of Hyejin, an unfamiliar man's voice answered.

"Hello? I'm the taxi driver. This young lady can't talk. She just handed me her phone."

Gain heard Hyejin let out a short, broken groan in the background.

"Where are you now?"

"We've entered Somang City. About fifteen minutes away. But Doctor..."

The driver lowered his voice.

"The entire back seat is wet. I turned on the interior light, and the fluid looks yellow."

Gain's heart dropped.

Meconium.

The baby had passed its first stool while still inside the womb.

The amniotic fluid had become thick and contaminated with meconium.

If the baby inhaled that fluid with its first breath, it could block the narrow airways.

If meconium reached deep into the lungs, it could cause inflammation, leading to lung injury and atelectasis.

What good is all this divine power when the patient isn't right in front of me?

"By the way, who's going to pay for cleaning the seat? Is her husband there?"