The Tin Man by Dale Brown

show you what you need to bring. Forms are written in point-five millimeter B lead pencil, not in pen, not in HB lead. And you better have more than one pencil—you’ll probably lose at least three a night. Follow me.”
MERCY SAN JUAN HOSPITAL, CITRUS HEIGHTS, CALIFORNIA SEVERAL HOURS LATER
    T he obstetrician completed his examination. “Still only three centimeters—maybe four,” he said. Wendy McLanahan was too exhausted to register any reaction except to close her eyes as another contraction began. Patrick’s jaw dropped open. “Doc, you said she was, three centimeters
eight hours ago.
Wendy has had a contraction every three or four minutes since three P.M. ! What’s going on?”
    “It’s a difficult delivery, that’s all, Mr. McLanahan,” the doctor said. “We’ll go ahead and give hersome oxytocin to speed things up. That might help.”
    “I’m not oil a timetable here, Doc, but she’s already exhausted—she’s shaking, she’s sweating like crazy but she’s shaking and white as a ghost and complains of being cold. It looks like she’s going into shock. What are we going to do?”
    The obstetrician studied the monitor readouts. “I wouldn’t worry too much, Mr. McLanahan,” the doctor said. “Wendy seems strong, and so does the baby. It’s important that she not push …”
    “She’s too
exhausted
to push, Doc,” Patrick protested. “What about an epidural? Something to reduce the pain? …”
    “Normally we don’t do an epidural until she’s dilated at least five centimeters,” the doctor said. “We can give her something to take the edge off, but an epidural at this stage would be asking for trouble. She may not be able to push when the time comes. We’ll start the oxytocin—that’ll get things moving a little more quickly—and I’ll give her a mild painkiller in her IV. As soon as she’s at five centimeters, in one or two hours at most, we’ll …”
    “One or two
hours?”
Patrick exclaimed. “It’s almost twenty hours now!”
    “I don’t think she was in active labor when you brought her in, Mr. McLanahan,” the obstetrician said. “In any case, we have to let things take their course. We want to avoid too much intervention. Accelerating labor is a big enough step. We want to avoid having to do’ a cesarean if at all possible.”
    “We can’t do a cesarean at all, Doc,” Patrick said. “Wendy had wanted this to be as natural a childbirth as possible, with minimum drugs and maximum mobility …”
    “I know that, Mr. McLanahan,” the doctor said,“but things are obviously not going as planned. We may have no choice …”
    “Read the records, Doc,” Patrick said. “She
can’t
have a cesarean.”
    “I read the records Dr. Linus faxed to me, Mr. McLanahan, and I read his annotation about abdominal injuries and damage to hercirculatory system. I also read that Dr. Linus recommended terminating the pregnancy because of the severe risks to Wendy’s health if there were complications during delivery.” The doctor saw the guilt that spread across Patrick’s face and felt sorry for him. They obviously wanted a child badly enough to risk the life of the mother. He looked at the chart and frowned, then studied Patrick warily. “I’m a little confused about a few things, Mr. McLanahan,” he said. “I see evidence of scarring, perhaps burns, and damage to her lungs, abdomen, and heart, but no cause listed. How did your wife get injured? A car accident?”
    Patrick swallowed hard, obviously conflicted and apprehensive. “I … I can’t tell you,” he responded.
    “Excuse me?”
    “I can’t give you any details, Doc,” Patrick said. “I thought Dr. Linus was going to include a note with the medical records explaining …”
    “There’s a note saying something about sensitive and classified government information,” the obstetrician said, “but I need to know what has happened to your wife before I can treat her and the baby. You’re asking me to work