Finding Bailey

After lunch, Bailey curled into Nelson's chest and fell asleep. Kevin had rung Brax to say he would be a little late due to sleeping in. Nelson had ordered lunch as Bailey wouldn't let him go so he was able to make something. Every time she wasn't holding onto Nelson she became hysterical and he didn't want to risk cooking while holding onto her.

Brax saved a plate of food for his friend and helped his brothers clean up. The boys were still enchanted with Bailey and wanted to be close to her. Mainly they just wanted Bailey to be happy and she was happy in Nelson's arms.

When the doorbell rang, Brax headed to the door to let his friend in. "Hey Brax, what's the story?" Kevin asked. Kevin had his medical bag with him as Brax asked him to bring it but didn't explain why. "So yesterday my brother got a call from my mum. Long story short, Blair found our baby sister and she needs to be seen by a doctor but we don't want a lot of questions asked because we don't have the answers to them" Brax informed his mate. Kevin nodded and follow Brax into the kitchen where there was a big plate of food waiting for him.

Nelson was sitting at the table holding onto Bailey who was still sleeping. Kevin plonked himself down on the chair where the food was and looked at Nelson who was holding a baby. "That's who I am looking at?" Kevin asked with a mouthful of food. "Yeah that's Bailey" Brax stated.

"I'm guessing she is about a year old" Kevin stated. "No she is 18 months old and she is a little behind from what we have worked out" Nelson stated. Kevin was surprised, she was really small for her age then. "Ok fill me in while I eat then I will take a look" Kevin stated. Nelson explained everything to Kevin while he ate his food including the things he made guesses about like the abuse and how she said her first word that morning as well as the separation anxiety she seemed to have in regards to Nelson.

Once Kevin was finished he and the rest of them headed to the lounge room. He took out his stethoscope and a few other things so he could examine Bailey. "Right she might scream while I do this, just don't kill me. I'm not going to hurt your sister" Kevin stated looking at the three Williams' boys who were glaring at him and his equipment. Brax nodded in understanding.

Nelson kept Bailey on his chest while Kevin checked her breathing. The cold stethoscope seemed to coax Bailey from her sleep as she began to open her eyes. When Bailey saw Nelson she smiled and then looked at what was on her chest. She followed the black thing which was attached to a stranger and her bottom lip began to tremble when she saw Kevin.

Kevin smiled at Bailey and then frowned at the mark on her face. He continued with his check up not saying anything. When it was time to take Bailey's nappy off Nelson tried to warn Kevin but he assured him he had seen it all. Nelson laid Bailey down and removed her nappy. He wiped the cream away revealing the extent of the nappy rash.

"Shit that's bad" Kevin mumbled when he saw the blistered skin. "Ok you can put another nappy on her" Kevin quickly stated. Nelson smothered Bailey with nappy rash cream again and secured the nappy. Nelson picked Bailey back up and went to make her a bottle again.

Kevin sat back on the couch and rubbed his hands down his face. He couldn't believe the extent of the damage that Bailey had on her body. There were bruises and school sores along with her nappy rash. She was severely underweight for her age and clearly wasn't meeting her milestones at all. She couldn't even tolerate any weight on her legs.

Nelson returned with a bottle and sat down feeding the bottle to Bailey who happily drank the milk. She liked having a full tummy but wasn't use to it at all. "Ok so you were right Mr Williams. She looks to have been abused. She is underweight and I can see her ribs. She can't handle weight on her legs which means she is developmentally a little behind but that is likely due to being malnourished. She has impetigo and the nappy rash is fungal. She will need prescription cream to help that heal. What is she eating?" Kevin asked.

"Bailey has had about 6 bottles since last night, I give them to her as often as she wants. She also tried some banana this morning. We aren't sure whether she was use to solid foods or not. From how she experimented with the banana, I'd say it was the first solid food she has had" Nelson responded. Kevin nodded his head. "Is she having the gold formula?" Kevin asked. Nelson nodded his head, she was having the toddler gold formula at the moment as that's the one that Blair had brought last night.

Kevin was lost in thought for a few minutes. "Ok, so she needs to gain weight, I would offer bottles every four hours of the gold formula. I would also introduce solid foods which are high in protein like yoghurt. Stay away from the baby cereal. Give her small amounts of food often. She will need to gain weight and then we will worry about her development. I'm guessing you don't know if she was a premie or medical history" Kevin asked.

Nelson cleared his throat and then stated "her mother was using cocaine but was supposedly in rehab during pregnancy. We aren't sure of anything else". Kevin was shocked but didn't let it show. He had known Mrs Williams before she took off and never expected her to be a junkie. "Ok, so she could be a little behind due to complications of drug addiction during pregnancy. Let's worry about getting her physically healthy first then the development stuff we can tackle later" Kevin responded. All the boys nodded in agreement.

Kevin wrote out scripts for creams she would need for the nappy rash and also got a plan to get her immunisations up to date as he suspected that she wouldn't of had any. Kevin spent the rest of the afternoon with Bailey and the boys and put in a call for her medical records to the local hospital and on the Medicare portal to see if he could find any more information about Bailey's health.