"Gerry, we can't have her now. She'll be tiny and we aren't ready and they'll keep me in and what about Alexis?" Sandra panicked.
"Stop stressing, it's not good for you or Chloe. I'll sort Alexis out while they prep you for theatre."
"Make sure you're back. I need you in there with me. Make sure Alexis knows I love her lots."
"I'm going to ring Esther, ask her to pick Alexis up. I'll be back in here and ready in a few minutes."
"Esther?"
"Gerry! How's the scan go?"
"Chloe's not well, I need you to pick up Alexis from school and feed her if you can."
"Of course I can, but who's Chloe? Is that little one?"
"Yeah."
"What a lovely name! What's wrong with her?"
"They don't know, I have to do they're doing a C-Section. Don't tell Alexis about what's going on or Chloe's name. Make sure she knows me and her mummy love her lots."
"Okay, of course I will. Good luck, I have my fingers crossed for you."
"I'm back, Alexis is sorted."
"Mrs Standing?" A man asked as he came into the room.
"Yeah."
"I'm Dr Evans, I'm here to take you down to theatre."
"I'm not going without Gerry."
"Don't worry, you don't have to."
"Right, you'll feel a bit of pressure in your lower tummy because she's about to come out." Sandra squeezed Gerry's hand tighter with fear.
"Well done Sandra, she's here. They've taken her straight up to PICU and into an incubator to help and support her." The midwife told Gerry and Sandra as they cleaned Sandra up.
"Was she okay? Was she as bad as they thought? How much did she weigh?" Sandra asked the midwife; who unlike her had sen Chloe.
"Sandra, she's extremely premature and she weighed 1 pound."
"God she's tiny." Gerry muttered as tears fell from his eyes.
"Here's a picture I took before she went upstairs." The midwife said as she handed the picture over.
"Oh, she's gorgeous." Sandra whispered. "She looks like you Gerry, she has the beginnings of your dark hair."
"Yeah but she has your sparkly blue eyes."
"Can we go and see Chloe?" Sandra asked as she lay panicking in her bed back on ward.
"I'm sorry Mrs Standing. You're on bed rest, you've just had major surgery so wait a few hours. Mr Standing can go up though."
"Go and see her Gerry, take pictures for me and tell her I love her."
"I can't leave you. We can go up together soon." Gerry said nervously, when he was with Sandra he could hold it together for her sake but he had no idea how he'd been facing this on his own.
"Gerry she's on her own, she's not met her parents yet. Go."
"I love you Sandra and I'll be back down soon."
"I love you too."
"Chloe Standing?" Gerry told the nurse on PICU.
"Yeah, she's just over here." The nurse said as she led him over to her. "Congratulations by the way."
"What's wrong with her?"
"She's got a hole in her heart, she's got drips in to keep the nutrients she needs going into her and the incubator is too keep her warm. We need to keep a close eye on her to check her organs are developing how we'd like them too as they aren't functioning properly at this age."
"Oh God. Will she be okay?" Gerry asked nervously.
"I'd say she has a 50/50 chance of survival." The nurse told him honestly as Gerry stared down at his gorgeous new born daughter attached to drips with several tubes stuck into her tiny limbs.
