Pregnant woman's murder (baby survive)
Could someone help me please ?
I'm writing a story and I seem to be stuck ...
As some commenters suggested this is now behind a cut :
The setting is modern day, England. No fantasy or magical world.
I have this character (perfect health, above average strenght, both physical and mental) who is close to giving birth (btw 8 and 9 months pregnant). She, along with a group of friends, is involved in the fight against a criminal organisation and I want that organisation to kill her but I have special requirements (which are more or less 'adaptable').
Basically the story I want is this :
She gets 'wounded' somehow (either a gunshot wound, a stab wound, internal bleeding as the result of a blast from an explosion, something else ?) but is still able to take refuge with (or be dragged by) another character into some kind of safe place (where they could be locked for an undertermined lenght of time). Once there she realises her injury and shortly after goes into labour (maybe as a result of the injury ? I read that severe blood loss can cause premature birth and she is very near term anyway ?). They have no access to medical help (they may be able to "McGyver" something out if necessary, like they could have a knife or maybe some kind of tourniquet made of a belt but they have no real medical supplies) and the man she is trapped with, although he is not squeamish in the least and has dealt with injuries before, is not a doctor. They both know she is going to die and from that point on, their main purpose is to save the child. They are friends (or at least friendly colleagues) but are both able to do whatever is necessary (if she has to be in pain, if they have to cause her more pain to ensure the child is safe they will both do it).
My requirements are :
- I want her to give birth to her child and (if possible) survive between 10 min and half an hour before dying (or losing conciousness).
- She has to die but her child must survive.
- She has to know she will die from the beginning (it may be linked to the fact that they can't get to medical assistance, I can make them trapped in that safe place for as long as necessary)
I gathered from my researches that the most likely way to achieve that was for her to litterally bleed to death. Most sites I have found explains that if you cut an artery you will be dead with minutes (if not seconds) but that there are others points that bleed more slowly and where it could take you hours to die. What are those points ? What are the symptoms of bleeding from those points (supposing it's internal bleeding) ? How long will it take you to die from it ?
To summarise, my questions are :
1) What kind of injury would she have that would allow her to give birth to her child (survive long enough to do so and maybe up to half an hour afterward) but would result in her death without hope of saving her (at least without medical help which is not available) ? Where would it be located ? How much pain would she be in ? What would be the symptoms (would she lose conciousness at some point, etc) ?
2) What could have caused it ?
3) What could my other character do to try and help her (both in giving birth and in making her death as 'painless' or 'confortable' as possible) ?
4) How long would the whole ordeal take (btw being wounded and her death) ? How long is the delivery of her child likely to take ?
Thanks to all of you
I'm writing a story and I seem to be stuck ...
As some commenters suggested this is now behind a cut :
The setting is modern day, England. No fantasy or magical world.
I have this character (perfect health, above average strenght, both physical and mental) who is close to giving birth (btw 8 and 9 months pregnant). She, along with a group of friends, is involved in the fight against a criminal organisation and I want that organisation to kill her but I have special requirements (which are more or less 'adaptable').
Basically the story I want is this :
She gets 'wounded' somehow (either a gunshot wound, a stab wound, internal bleeding as the result of a blast from an explosion, something else ?) but is still able to take refuge with (or be dragged by) another character into some kind of safe place (where they could be locked for an undertermined lenght of time). Once there she realises her injury and shortly after goes into labour (maybe as a result of the injury ? I read that severe blood loss can cause premature birth and she is very near term anyway ?). They have no access to medical help (they may be able to "McGyver" something out if necessary, like they could have a knife or maybe some kind of tourniquet made of a belt but they have no real medical supplies) and the man she is trapped with, although he is not squeamish in the least and has dealt with injuries before, is not a doctor. They both know she is going to die and from that point on, their main purpose is to save the child. They are friends (or at least friendly colleagues) but are both able to do whatever is necessary (if she has to be in pain, if they have to cause her more pain to ensure the child is safe they will both do it).
My requirements are :
- I want her to give birth to her child and (if possible) survive between 10 min and half an hour before dying (or losing conciousness).
- She has to die but her child must survive.
- She has to know she will die from the beginning (it may be linked to the fact that they can't get to medical assistance, I can make them trapped in that safe place for as long as necessary)
I gathered from my researches that the most likely way to achieve that was for her to litterally bleed to death. Most sites I have found explains that if you cut an artery you will be dead with minutes (if not seconds) but that there are others points that bleed more slowly and where it could take you hours to die. What are those points ? What are the symptoms of bleeding from those points (supposing it's internal bleeding) ? How long will it take you to die from it ?
To summarise, my questions are :
1) What kind of injury would she have that would allow her to give birth to her child (survive long enough to do so and maybe up to half an hour afterward) but would result in her death without hope of saving her (at least without medical help which is not available) ? Where would it be located ? How much pain would she be in ? What would be the symptoms (would she lose conciousness at some point, etc) ?
2) What could have caused it ?
3) What could my other character do to try and help her (both in giving birth and in making her death as 'painless' or 'confortable' as possible) ?
4) How long would the whole ordeal take (btw being wounded and her death) ? How long is the delivery of her child likely to take ?
Thanks to all of you