12.09

Helena Campos glanced down at her pager when it pinged, pulling the pink sleeves of the NICU gown out of the way and soon after clipping it back to her scrub pants.

"Code pink." She exhaled, turning to a nearby intern, who leaned against the small counter with all the computers. "Alright." She announced, as she circled around the room to count all the babies, alarms beginning to sound throughout the peds floor. "Little stomach bag guy, esophageal atresia, pulmonary sequestration, spina bifida boy, spina bifida girl and teratoma cutie. Everyone's here." The surgeon smiled in relief.

"Dr. C, it says here that the code is for a six year old kid, not an infant." The intern announced, reading from her tablet.

"So, code pink lesson number one. If someone is stealing babies, you count the babies."

"Right." She nodded, as if admitting it made sense.

Going back to checking the nearest baby's vitals, Helena smiled to herself as the alarms stopped. However, she was forced to stop soon enough, as her pager sounded again.

At that, her face dropped, going into game-mode. "Alright, everyone, listen up." The NICU stopped to listen to the doctor, who looked around at her team. "We have a little one coming in bad shape. Crash-c, mom and baby lost a lot of blood. I don't know any more, so let's be ready for anything, alright? That means equipment, personnel and a station all set up in the next few minutes, so let's be quick and efficient. Please and thank you!"

——

"She's not oxygenating. Page cardio and neuro, please." Helena shook her head, taking her stethoscope out of her ears, as she spoke to the NICU nurse. Then, she turned to the resident that had brought the baby with him. "Speak to me, Ben. How old is this baby? How far along was she?"

"Uh, 33... no, 34 weeks, I ." He muttered, cleared a bit shaken up, as he crossed his arms.

"Was she preeclamptic? Diabetic? Was there evidence of an abruption or a-a previa?" Helena asked, as she worked on intubating the little one.

"No, I mean, yeah. It was a delayed abruption, or to be. She was hypotensive..." The resident let out.

"Is there a history of Rh incompatibility? Something?" She waited for a moment, as she worked, before insisting. "Warren, I need to know what I'm dealing with, here. Is there you can tell me?" As the monitors began beeping, Helena exhaled. "He's bradying down..."

"The mom abrupted. She needed an emergent c-section."

"So you did it in the middle of the hallway?!" Helena let out at him, a bit annoyed, with the worry of saving the newborn. "What were you thinking?"

"You have to understand, I would have lost them both." Warren explained himself.

"Ok, you know what, it doesn't matter. It's done and I am not the Chief, I do not have to worry about this right now." The brunette shook her head, almost as if convincing herself. "What I do have to worry about is saving this little guy, so I need to try to understand what happened. You were there, not me, so give me some answers, Ben." The attending turned to the nurse once more. "Send for an ABG, please."

"What can I do? I want to help." Ben asked.

Just then, Bailey entered the room, announcing. "Dr. Warren, I need to speak with you, privately."

"When the baby's stable, I'll find you. I need to stay. I need to assist. We need to increase the frequency to 609 BPMs, and set the IT to 33%..." Ben rambled.

"Dr. Warren, respectfully, there's nothing more you can do here. Nothing I won't do. Go with your Chief." Helena's voice grew a bit stiffer, as she used the resident's last name.

——

"Diffuse loss of muscle tone." Amelia let out, as Helena shook her head, both standing around the baby with Riggs and Blake.

"I can't get him to oxygenate." The younger attending sighed.

"He needs to go on ECMO." Riggs shared.

"You think this little guy can handle it?" The neurosurgeon asked.

"No. But it might be the only chance he has." Helena bit her bottom lip in worry.

"STATs are in the 80s." The resident let out.

"I'm with you." Amelia decided. "Do it."

"We need parental consent. Where are the parents?" Riggs asked, as he began prepping the baby.

"Mom's in OR 1, dad's in OR 2." The Chief of Neonatal surgery told him. "In these cases we usually just... just go ahead and do it."

——

The continuous beeping of the heart monitor echoed through the NICU, as the team of doctors decided it was time to let the baby go.

As Riggs turned off the heart monitor, he and Penelope walked away, leaving Helena and Amelia by the small body.

Carefully, the shorter woman wrapped him in the surrounding blanket, covering the entirety of his body.

Then, lowering her head down, she whispered. "I'm sorry, little guy. I'm so sorry."

With tear filled eyes, Amelia placed her hand on Helena's shoulder, silently comforting her.

——

Later that night, Amelia sat on the attending's lounge couch, finishing up a chart, as Helena changed into her civilian clothes.

With a sigh, the neurosurgeon rolled her neck, making the younger woman ask. "Long day, huh?"

"The longest." The neurosurgeon groaned.

"Yeah, I know... It was a hard case." Helena sighed, pulling her scrub top off over her head. "On top of it all Bailey just told me I'll have to testify at Warren's advisory panel meeting, tomorrow. You know, for the... for deciding what disciplinary action will be needed, after the incident."