Next week on Home and Away in the UK, Levi faces a tough battle to save Harper’s baby, but as contractions start, is the baby coming early?
Levi (Tristan Gorey) is under pressure this week as he performs a very risky operation on Harper’s (Jessica Redmayne) unborn child.
Dr Liz Shaw (Mandy Bishop) had been asked to take a look at Harper’s routine ultrasound last week, who in turn was forced to call in cardiothoracic surgeon Levi for consultation.
The pair explained to Harper and Tane (Ethan Browne) that their baby had a benign lung lesion known as a cystic adenomatoid malformation, or CCAM.
The cyst was putting pressure on the baby’s developing organs, and if it continued to grow it could cause various issues, including the possibility of foetal heart failure.
After further scans, Levi explained that the cyst was larger than they first thought, and presented the two options available to them.
They could monitor the cyst, in the hope that it doesn’t continue to grow, but this could put both Harper and the baby’s life at risk. Alternatively, they could perform in-utero surgery in the coming days, which wasn’t without its own risks of bringing on premature labour.
Harper initially insisted that they were going to wait it out, but after some gentle persuasion from Tane and advice from Levi, she decided that it would be best to opt for the surgery.
Whilst Levi felt this was the better option, he wasn’t afraid to admit to girlfriend Mackenzie (Emily Weir) that the prospect of performing this sort of operation on someone so small, let alone the child of a friend, was terrifying.
As last week’s season finale episode came to a close, Tane and Harper decided they were going to name their baby boy Archie Wiremu, which consists of the name of Harper’s grandfather, and Tane’s late brother Ari’s (Rob Kipa-Williams) middle name respectively.
A short while later Levi was awaiting Harper’s arrival in the operating theatre…
As we pick up where we left off next week, Harper talks with Levi before she goes under the knife, and asks him to promise that should anything happen, he prioritise saving the baby.
Levi hesitates before reluctantly agreeing to her request, just as anaesthetist Harry (Paul Hughes) puts Harper under.
Levi’s nervous as an incubator is rolled in, hoping that he won’t have to use it, and as he begins surgery it soon becomes apparent that it’s going to be a lot more complicated than anticipated. He cannot decompress the cyst as planned, and will have to cut it up with a laser scalpel.
It’s incredibly fragile work, and as Harry warns Levi that he needs to work quickly in order to keep both Harper and the baby stable, Levi snaps back to let him do his job.
Shortly afterwards, with the baby’s heart rate already up, Harper’s blood pressure dangerously rises.
The team manage to settle Harper, but her BP once again briefly rises as Levi resumes work. The obstetrics surgeon assisting, Dr Khurana (Emily Havea), warns Levi that if it happens once more, then she’ll have no option but to deliver the baby.
Back on the ward, Tane is becoming increasingly impatient, and lashes out at Dana (Ally Harris) at her inability to get any updates from her fellow staff. Dana chooses to walk away before she says something she’ll regret.
Thankfully, Levi is able to remove the remainder of the cyst and the operation is declared a success. As Dr Khurana finishes off, Levi heads back to the ward to update Tane, Mac and Dana.
Once Harper wakes up and is seemingly out of danger, Dana decides to give her sister and Tane some alone time, and tells them she’s heading off to Melbourne to see Xander.
Harper is glad when she eventually feels baby Archie kicking, but as she wakes up the next morning, she suddenly experiences a stomach cramp. As the machines start bleeping, Harper tells Tane that she thinks she’s having a contraction!
Levi had warned the pair that they would be continuing to monitor Harper for this eventuality, and as Dr Shaw checks on Harper, Levi happens to call Tane and tells him that he’ll also return to the hospital.
Dr Shaw hopes that the injection she had administered will stop the contractions, which are currently occurring every ten minutes.
Outside, Tane asks Levi what baby Archie’s chances of survival are if he were to be born today, at only 26 weeks. Levi advises him that whilst babies do survive, it will take a lot of time in neonatal intensive care, and chances of complications would be extremely high.
As Levi and Dr Shaw discuss the situation, they know that if the contractions go on for much longer, they will have no choice but to deliver the baby by caesarean.
Will Harper and Archie be okay?
