SH Medical 08 - The Baby Dilemma by Jacqueline Diamond

get pregnant. About sixty percent of women became pregnant within that length of time, and although another fifteen percent achieved pregnancy naturally in the next three months, Lori was in her midthirties and worried about declining fertility. Last month, she’d come to see Paige and they’d begun checking her ovulation and hormone levels, along with Jared’s sperm. So far, everything seemed fine, but further tests remained. The two of them joked about the fact that, since Lori had assisted at Paige’s inseminations, they were helping each other get pregnant.
    For a moment, Paige wondered if Jared was about to make a reference to her own situation, but he gave no sign that it even occurred to him. Good. Lori shouldn’t have mentioned it, although Paige could imagine how easily confidential information might slip out when husband and wife worked at the same facility.
    Instead, his entire attention riveted on the baby boy he was wrapping in a blanket. Tenderness and longing shone in his dark eyes.
    How fortunate Lori was, to share her hopes and dreams with this loving husband. To have his encouragement through her monthly disappointments and, someday, his support during a pregnancy. Afterward, too, for all the years of child rearing.
    A knot formed in Paige’s chest. If only…
    Oh, for heaven’s sake! She didn’t need a man like Jared, or like Nora’s doting Lock, or like Mike. Especially not like Mike. Although he didn’t seem so obnoxious since she’d read him the riot act, in her current state of exhaustion and possible hormone flux, she couldn’t be objective.
    Fortunately, the nursery drew Paige’s thoughts to a more pleasant subject. She moved about the dimly lit room peeking at the other infants she’d delivered tonight. All healthy, all contented in their bassinets. What adorable little people, with their wrinkly faces and tiny hands.
    What would they look like in a few months, and in later years? She always loved when patients brought in their growing babies to show how they were developing. While she’d only practiced at Safe Harbor for eight months, she’d been with her previous group long enough to watch some of her patients’ babies grow into the toddler years.
    “I hope Lori gets pregnant soon,” Paige said. “For your sake and, hey, I’ll get credit in the contest.”
    Jared grinned. “I think it’s totally unfair that only obstetricians get to participate.”
    “In consultation with our staff,” Paige reminded him.
    “The pediatricians and neonatologists get left out,” he grumbled playfully. “Except for Samantha, of course.”
    In March, Dr. Tartikoff had announced a nine-month-long contest to spur staff morale, gain publicity and encourage use of the latest fertility techniques and procedures. The doctor who achieved the highest pregnancy rate among fertility patients would win a hundred-thousand-dollar donation to his or her favorite charity. Because the hospital didn’t want to encourage potentially risky multiple births, each pregnancy counted only once, regardless of the number of babies per mom.
    With such a large amount at stake, doctors had begun lobbying among their colleagues for their favorite causes. Informal alliances had sprung up, with multiple doctors pledging to support the same charities. Pediatrician Samantha Forrest argued strongly for a community clinic she’d founded a few years ago to provide counseling and referrals to low-income families, women and teen mothers. Its chief competition came from a grant program proposed by obstetrician Zack Sargent to aid fertility patients who lacked insurance coverage for their treatments.
    “I doubt I’ll be anywhere near the front-runners,” Paige observed. “I prefer to let patients proceed at their own pace rather than pushing them into in vitro.”
    “We appreciate that,” Jared said. “There are some impressive new developments, but there’s a price to be paid. Financially and physically.”
    “Not to