SH Medical 08 - The Baby Dilemma by Jacqueline Diamond

physicals, surgical follow-ups, maternity care and fertility cases. From the outer office, she heard voices. The day had truly begun.
    By 10 a.m., a caffeine headache reminded her of those missing cups of coffee. As Paige fixed a stronger-than-usual cup of tea in the break room, she listened to the nasal drone of her nurse, Keely Randolph, confirming a patient’s list of medications. Like Paige, Keely was substituting for a staffer on leave—in this case, Dr. T’s wife, Bailey, who was Nora’s regular nurse.
    Paige resisted the temptation to sit down. If she did, she might close her eyes and yield to those hormones whispering subversive nonsense about taking a nap.
    While sipping the tea, she reviewed the next patient’s chart on a computer screen. Sheila Obermeier was a healthy thirty-two-year-old who’d been seeing Nora for regular checkups. Last month, she’d come to Paige for help in getting pregnant, after a fruitless year of trying on her own. She had no obvious medical issues or medications that might interfere, and in the past few weeks they’d begun the basic fertility workup. Some test results had come back on Friday.
    “Patient’s prepped.” Keely’s large frame filled the entrance. As usual, she wore a stubborn expression.
    Working with Keely was, to Paige, like pushing an overloaded shopping cart with a skewed wheel. What a frustrating waste of energy. Still, in the end, you got your groceries to the checkout line just the same.
    “Thank you.” She cleared away her cup.
    With a grunt, the nurse disappeared, probably to vent her ill temper on the young receptionist. Paige felt sorry for the girl, but hesitated to intervene unless Keely did something completely out of line. Although the doctors at Safe Harbor maintained private practices, most contracted with the hospital for staffing. Until Bailey or Nora returned, Paige was stuck with the disagreeable woman.
    In the hallway, she knocked and then entered the patient’s room. On the examining table sat a tense fair-haired woman in a hospital gown. “Did you find anything?”
    “Good news. Your tests came back normal,” Paige assured her, and proceeded to explain the results. She concluded, “Our next step is to make sure the sperm isn’t the problem. I see your husband hasn’t provided a specimen.”
    “He keeps putting it off. He says he’s busy at work.”
    “I was hoping he’d accompany you on this visit.” Paige had suggested that the last time she saw the woman.
    Sheila rolled her eyes. “You don’t know Gil!”
    True enough. “It’s important that we discuss his concerns.” Some men took the possibility of a sperm deficit as a challenge to their masculinity.
    “He keeps saying I’m young and there’s no hurry. I left my first husband because he didn’t want children. That’s why I took up with Gil in the first place, and now he’s pulling the same routine, only he isn’t as honest about it.” A sheen in her eyes warned of tears.
    Paige had learned that an unruffled attitude was helpful to patients, so she continued smoothly, “Do you believe your husband doesn’t want kids? Surely he’s aware that you stopped using birth control.”
    “Yes, not that I gave him much choice. He said he wanted them. But now…” The words ended in a sniffle.
    “He’s changed his mind?”
    “Or something. I sure hope I didn’t dump my first husband for more of the same. Sometimes I wish I’d given Mike more time. Looking back, I guess I was trying to punish him by hooking up with Gil, and then things spun out of control.”
    Mike? Paige scrolled down the computer screen. There it was. Sheila Aaron Obermeier. She hadn’t made the connection before. No reason why she should have, of course.
    Paige would never discuss a patient with anyone other than a medical supervisor, but what about the reverse situation? In a small town like Safe Harbor, especially given the likelihood of continuing contact between ex-spouses, full disclosure