11.07

"You paged 911?" Bailey asked, entering the scrub room Helena was now in.

"Yes, I needed someone from general. Here's the plan." Helena explained, putting on her mask. "We're gonna embolize the tumor to see if we can reverse the effects on the mom's circulation. If not, then-"

"Where's Herman?" The other woman asked, as she did the same.

"The patient's platelet count is critically low, so we need to give her six packs of platelets to avoid liver capsule bleeding." Helena kept going, as if reciting the plan would somehow dissipate her anxiety. "And then we'll perform the fetoscopy to reverse the cascade..."

"Y-you keep saying we, but I only see you. Where the hell is Herman?"

". , not we. Herman's not... she's not coming."

"What do you mean, she's not coming?" Bailey was clearly confused, her voice becoming higher pitched.

"She's in surgery, Bailey. She's in surgery, with Amelia. In surgery." She explained, scrubbing her hands more vigorously. "So I'm doing this surgery. I'm doing it myself."

——

"The baby's anemic." Helena announced, as she operated. "Let's transfuse her. 40 milliliters of irradiated PRBC, please."

"Lena, we need to get in and out. Hannah's pressure is through the roof." Bailey told her.

"But if we don't stop this bleeding, her baby will die. The idea is to save both of them." She told her former resident. "And I think I can do it."

In her head, she heard Herman reprimanding her.

"I know it." Helena corrected herself, shaking her head. "I I can save them both."

"Lena, I respect you and consider you a friend, so it's with kindness that I tell you that you're only half a fetal surgeon, not even. You're half a ." The woman warned.

"Bailey, I know what I'm doing. I've had all that Dr. Herman knows pounded into my brain. My hands are her hands." She explained, then requesting. "22 gauge needle, please."

——

"It's not working..." Helena exhaled. "I can't embolize all the vessels like this."

"I need to open her up." Helena decided, with a decisive nod.

"Oh, absolutely not!" Bailey argued. "We'd have to increase Hannah's anesthesia and- "

"She's got persistent d-cels." The anesthesiologist let out.

"I could open her up, exteriorize the uterus and then resect the entire tumor..." Helena thought out loud.

"The prolonged anesthesia could be catastrophic to both mom and baby. If you're gonna open her up, then you should go ahead and deliver." Bailey advised.

"No." Helena shook her head. "T- That's not an option."

"This is mirror syndrome, Lena. You know that." Bailey urged. "The sicker the baby gets, the sicker Hannah gets. We deliver and she'll get better."

"Bailey, it's an option!" Helena took out the instruments she'd been using so far. "The baby's not far enough along. She survive."

"Page neonatal." Bailey called out to a nurse.

"Uh, stop, please. What are you doing?!" Helena asked.

"We're delivering this baby. It's not gonna be easy, but they might be able to keep her alive once she's out."

"Put the phone down, please." Helena urged, a bit unnerved. "Bailey, I can do this. I that this baby's best shot is if I preform this procedure."

"Lena, your mentor is on an OR table right now with her skull open, and you think you have something to prove!" Bailey argued, vehemently. "Well, I'm not gonna let you do that right now. You wanna open her up? Then do, but we are delivering this child."

"Bailey, have you ever known me to do something simply to prove myself?" Helena tried to reason. "You have known me for years, you know me as a surgeon and as a person. I know what I'm doing. And I need you to trust me, right now."

At that, the older woman simply stared at her blanky, before calling out once more. "Page neonatal."

——

"Her STATs are dropping." Bailey informed. "She's hypoxic. Lena, it's not going to get better."

"Ok, there we go." Helena spoke to herself, practically ignoring her former mentor. "Oh, Crap. It's stuck. This tumor is too big..."

"Hey. Sorry, I was already at home." Miller, the sixth year neonatal resident greeted.

"You should have stayed home..." Helena pouted to herself.

"Sorry, Dr. C?"

"Nothing, I'm sorry. It's not like you to come." She shook her head, as she worked. "I can't get it from this angle. If I force it, it ruptures. I need to widen the incision."

"You have to widen it anyway, Miller's here. We're delivering." Bailey told her.

"We're not delivering." Helena argued, voice steady. "She's not viable."

"You're trying to prove that you're Herman!" Bailey argued.