Setback

"She's so tiny." Lena breathes in disbelief, staring at the helpless baby inside the incubator from her seated position in the wheelchair. Dr. Hilcroft had given Lena the okay to come visit the baby today, but only if she stayed off her feet and didn't over-exert herself. Rest was the key to recovering from her C-section-turned-hysterectomy.

While Lena was still a little sorrowful about having had her uterus removed, she also understood that it needed to be done to save her life. She and Stef were done having kids. They already had their hands full. Six kids were more than enough.

Lena feels a pang in her heart, thinking about her other five children who are currently at home with her parents and mother-in-law. Surely they were all worried about their mothers and wondering why they hadn't been home in two days. Despite urging from Lena, Stef was still refusing to leave her side to go home and check on the older kids.

"When can we hold her?" Lena asks the NICU nurse, watching her daughter's tiny chest rise and fall.

"Hopefully soon." The nurse answers. "We're still noticing changes in her blood pressure during diaper changes and other maintenance. And her skin is very sensitive and dehydrates easily when she's not in the incubator. But hopefully, after she's gained a little more weight and is stronger, you'll be able to hold her and do kangaroo care with her."

"Kangaroo care?" Stef asks with an inquisitive cock of her head.

"Kangaroo care is when you hold your diapered baby on your bare chest. The skin to skin contact does wonders for all aspects of a baby's health." The nurse replies.

"Thank you so much for everything you're doing to help our baby." Lena tells the nurse.

"It's my pleasure." The nurse smiles before excusing herself to go check on another premature baby.

Stef slips through the front door of the craftsman house just after everyone has sat down for lunch at the table in the kitchen. For a moment, the blonde stops and just listens to the goings-on of her children and mother and parents-in-laws. Over the last two days, she's been stuck in mostly silent hospital rooms - with only the mechanical whirring of machines and hushed tones of nurses and doctors to break up the quiet. If there was one thing her family was, it certainly wasn't quiet.

"Mommy!" Five different voices exclaim as Stef ambles into the kitchen. All five of the kids immediately hop out of their chairs and rush to their mother, their mac'n'cheese and dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets completely forgotten.

"Oh, my babies. I have missed you all so much!" Stef tells the kids as she kisses each of them on their cheeks.

"We've missed you too!" Mariana says.

"Where's mama?" Brandon inquires, realizing that Stef is alone.

"She's still in the hospital." Stef answers.

"How come?" Jesus asks.

"She needs a few more days to heal and rest before she can come home." Stef replies, although she wonders if Lena will ever come home while their baby girl is still in the NICU.

"What about the baby?" Callie pipes up, her brown eyes shining with worry.

"The baby is still in the hospital, too. She was born early so she's very small and kind of sick." Stef isn't sure how to explain to her five children that their baby sister might not live and that they might never get to meet her.

"When will mama and the baby come home?" Callie presses.

"I'm not sure yet." Stef answers with what she hopes is a convincing smile.

"Alright, kiddos, that's enough ambushing your mom." Sharon calls, walking over to Stef and the kids. "You've got some food to eat and it looks like your mom could use a shower."

"Thank you." Stef whispers to her mother as the kids reluctantly return to the table.

Half an hour later, Stef returns to the kitchen feeling like a new woman. Slung over her shoulder is a duffle bag filled with all kinds of essentials she and Lena will need over the next few days - clothes and toiletries for both of them, phone chargers, a few books and magazines, and Lena's laptop. The blonde goes to the pantry and begins shoving snacks into the last empty pocket of the duffle.

"Are you going back to the hospital already?" Dana asks, coming into the kitchen from the backyard.

"Yeah. I don't like leaving Lena alone to deal with everything." Stef sighs.

"How is she doing?" Dana inquires.

"She's alright. She's pretty sore from the C-section and worried about the baby." Stef replies.

"And the baby?" Dana adds.

"The doctor says she's a fighter. But she's so small. I don't know." Stef shakes her head, feeling anxiety rise up into her chest.

"You just let us know what we can do for you." Dana assures her daughter-in-law.

"You're already doing so much. I feel so bad leaving you and Stewart and my mom here to take care of the kids." Stef replies.

"Don't you worry about that. You already have enough to worry about right now." Dana urges.

When she comes back, Lena is crying → Frankie has a brain bleed

When Stef returns to the hospital, she is shocked to find Lena sobbing softly in her hospital room.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Stef asks, rushing over to her wife, slipping the duffle onto the bed beside her. This only makes Lena cry harder, strangled sob racking through her body. "Baby, tell me what's wrong. Did something happen?" Stef pushes. Fear shoots through the blonde. Did their baby pass away while she was gone? How could she have left Lena to deal with this alone? She never should have left.

"The baby. . ." Lena sniffles, wiping her eyes. "She has. . . she has a bleed in her brain."

"What?" Stef is left dumbfounded. What did this mean? Was their newborn daughter dying after all? Lena just continues crying, burying her head into Stef's chest.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt." Dr. Rabb says softly as she enters the room. "I wanted to update you on your daughter's condition."

"What's happening? My wife just told me the baby has a brain bleed." Stef desperately needs more information.

"Your daughter has what we call a level two intraventricular hemorrhage." Dr. Rabb begins. "That means she has more bleeding than a level one IVH, but the blood isn't yet pushing on any brain tissue."

"Why is this happening?" Stef asks, running her hands through Lena's curls, trying to calm her.

"IVH occurs often in premature babies, especially when they have unstable blood pressure and respiratory distress - both of which your daughter is experiencing." Dr. Rabb explains.

"What do we do? How do we fix it?" Stef will do whatever it takes to make her daughter healthy.

"We wait and watch." Dr. Rabb replies.

"What? Isn't there a medication you can give her? Or a surgery you can do?" Stef asks incredulously.

"The best course of action is to wait. The bleed is small and most intraventricular hemorrhages resolve on their own." Dr. Rabb tells Stef calmly. She's seen this reaction dozens, maybe hundreds, of times before. Parents don't always take well to the "wait and watch" approach. "This is just a little set back. It is, by no means, a death sentence. I have seen pre-mies recover from minor brain bleeds without any lasting effects."

Dr. Rabb excuses herself, leaving Stef to console Lena as they digest the new information.