Scrap CH TWO part 30

CH TWO 30
Danny can’t believe what he is hearing and asks his mother-in-law to repeat what she has said. ‘I said that Rosa had a little boy at one fifteen this morning; she’s in Sheppey hospital. You can go and see her this afternoon. It’s only fathers allowed the first day but she needs some things taking in so I’ve packed a bag for her.’
The four bay ward is lit with bright sunshine filtering through the sparse new leaves of the birch trees along the boundary of the garden. The room is full of the scent from daffodils and chrysanthemums, freesias and roses.
Dawn stirs from a fitful sleep and her eyes slowly focus on the unfamiliar scene. Everything hurts as she manoeuvres herself to a semi-sitting position and reaches out for the water on her bedside cabinet. The stale liquid eases her parched throat which is sore from the tube which had to be put in place during the emergency caesarean operation. A woman in uniform glides into the room and smiles as she takes the clip board from the foot of the bed and begins her routine observations, starting with a cheery ‘Hello Mrs Stewart, I expect you are feeling a bit groggy at the moment.’
The nurse takes Dawn’s pulse, temperature and blood pressure and asks a few simple questions, writing notes as she goes. ‘Where are my babies?’ Asks Dawn, ‘I haven’t seen them yet; I haven’t been told a thing.’ The nurse replaces the notes and assures the mother that her babies are doing well, that they are resting in the nursery with all the others so that the mothers can get some sleep. ‘You have two little boys, identical, the first one came in at 5lbs 2oz and the second was 6lbs 8oz, which is very good for twins. You’ll need to be careful with your stitches now, no overdoing things and no lifting until you are safely healed. Do you have anyone to help you when you get home because you’re going to need someone.’ Dawn says that her mother will be staying for as long as she is needed, which seems to satisfy the inquiry and the nurse moves on to the next bed.
By visiting time the babies have been wheeled onto the wards and all is clean and tidy. Scotty and Danny have been waiting outside having a smoke, exchanging small talk mostly about lorries and scrap metal with barely a mention of the reason they are both here. People start going inside and the men stub out their cigarettes before following them.
Dawn smiles weakly as her husband kisses her gently and hands over a huge bouquet of flowers which he had made up at Covent Garden. Her eyes sparkle with tears as she inspects the blooms, knowing how much they must have cost him. ‘So these are our two little scraps then,’ he says quietly, leaning over each cot in turn, ‘two boys eh? They’re lovely Dawn; well-done you,’ then as an afterthought: ‘how are you?’ Dawn lies that she is fine, just a wee bit sore; no point in reeling off the various pains or going over the horror of the birthing process as he wouldn’t want to know really.
She beckons for him to come close so she can speak softly, ‘have you seen who’s in the bed by the window?’ Scotty says he’s been talking to Danny in the car park and he didn’t even know that Rosa was expecting. ‘She kept it to herself,’ he whispers back, ‘didn’t even tell her mother and she is furious for not noticing. She just thought Rosa was putting on a bit of weight. Carol Tobin’s just been brought in too; must be something in the air.’
Scotty peels one of the oranges he has brought in for Dawn, sharing it with her as they chat about the other children. ‘Janet and Heather have been great helping to look out for the younger ones,’ he says, popping a grape into his mouth, ‘they were doing a load of laundry when I left. I don’t suppose it will matter if they have a day or two off school, will it?’ Dawn says she doesn’t think so and reminds him that her mother will take over as soon as she can. ‘So what are we going to name these little ones then?’ asks Scotty. Dawn gives him a serious look, ‘well we’re not naming them after any of your favourite footballers,’ she warns. He had wanted to name their first son after his favourite football team, trying to have her believe that his French grandfather’s name was Arsene Louis, which would have read like Arsene L. Stewart, but despite his protestations Dawn had refused to allow it.
‘I was thinking we could maybe name them George, after my dad and Charles after yours; I’m sure your mum would like that too.’ Dawn is somewhat taken aback by this reasonable suggestion and says she will think about it. ‘The doctor wrote out the certificates,’ she continues, ‘they’re in the cupboard in my handbag. We need to take them to the register office to make the babies official.’ Even Scotty knows this as he has registered every one of the children and it’s not something you can forget doing, but he says he will make sure to keep them in a safe place until they decide on the names.