Chapter 39
The rest of the Branning had spent a very uncomfortable night in the hospital waiting room. As they were about to leave the night before, Lauren had had a seizure. Tanya, Abi, Joey and Sara had spent the entire night waiting for a diagnosis. It wasn't until the early hours of the morning when they were in Laurens room, that a doctor brought them news.
Joey was sat with his Daughter in his arms, refusing to put her down, she was acting as a comfort for him. Tanya sat to the side of the room with Abi sleeping against her Sara on the opposite side try to offer support. She was training to be a midwife before she had Joey, so she knew what was happening.
The door opened and Laurens doctor walked in. "I have Laurens results back, it's not bad news, but neither is it something we would expect an a patient so young"
"she'll be ok though wont she?" Joey asked
"yes she will. Laurens suffering from something called postpartum seizures, they're not uncommon but like I said are usually seen in older patients. Usually the seizures are caused by quick births or blood loss, and considering Lauren suffered both, I'm not entirety surprised she's had one of these seizures...it can also be linked to the Paroxetine in the early pregnancy "
"will she be able to come home later today still?" Tanya asked, feeling more than guilty about her part to play in her daughter poor health.
"I don't see why not, Lauren will be able to tell when a seizure is coming on, and they are very easy to control. So I don't see a problem with her going home this afternoon ." The doctor looked around the room "although it is against protocol I will allow you all to stay in here for now, but can I ask then when she wakes up can we try and limit visitors to three at a time?"
"Yes Doctor sorry" Sara added as the doctor left the room softly shutting the door behind her. She looked at her watch and saw it was half 6 in the morning.
"What're you doing, Mum?" Joey questioned as Sara stood up
"I should get home and face the music" she informed them
"You can't" he proclaimed "Dad will go ballistic and I don't want you to lie for me"
"He's going to find out sooner or later, Joey" she sighed "I mean you're gonna be living on the Square and Max is his brother. What's gonna happen, eh?"
"Me and Lo spoke about this . We're going to move to my flat at uni" he admitted.
"You can't do that. It's hours away" she proclaimed
"It's not too far, Mum. The flat's a great solution, I can carry on at university, finish my course" he replied
"What university is it you go to again, Joey?" Tanya inquired
"University of Sussex, it's near Brighton. Only an hour away from here by car on a good day" he informed her
"I don't know, Joey" Sara sighed
"Listen, think about it like this, Lauren and I wanna be together and we can't do that in Walford. We want to raise our baby together, we can't do that in Walford. Moving to Brighton is the best for us and we'll be able to raise our child without having to look over our shoulder and we'll be by the beach, she'll love it" he explained, placing the baby in the cot.
"You and Lauren have spoken about this?" Tanya questioned
Joy nodded "It was Lauren's idea" he admitted weakly "I was going to move back home but she said no. I'm sorry, Auntie Tan, but she wants to get away from the Square and start somewhere new, and after everything that's happened recently, I can't say I blame her"
"If that's what the two of you really, really want then we'll find a way to make it work" she informed him "it won't be easy though, Joey, you understand that, right?"
"We do, but we know what we want" he replied
*JL*JL*JL*
Lauren woke later that morning to see just Joey and her daughter in the room, everyone else having gone for food and Sara having gone home.
"Morning, beautiful" Joey greeted her
"Morning" she mirrored "ouch. Stupid stitches" she winced as she moved to sit up in the bed.
"She's hungry" Joey informed her, motioning to their daughter "do you want to have a go?"
"Can I?" she questioned
Joey smiled warmly at her and nodded his head, standing up and carefully passing their daughter to her Mum, the bottle slipping from her mouth in the process, causing her to cry.
"Hey, baby girl, oh dear me" Lauren cooed, settling the baby into her arms "here we go, is that better?" the baby quietening as soon as the bottle was back in her mouth.
"Have you thought of any names for her, babe?" Joey inquired
"Some, have you?" she questioned
"I like Sophie" he informed her
"Too normal" Lauren proclaimed shaking her head
"India?" Joey suggested
"I don't like names of places" she admitted "Poppy, I like Poppy"
"Nope" Joey replied "too flowery"
"that's because it is a flower idiot" she laughed rolling her eyes
"what about Anna then?"
"No" she informed him "Louise?" Lauren suggested
"No" Joey said "too boring"
There was a silence where they both pondered over names. Lauren gazed into her baby's eyes. She was only a few hours old but they were darkening from the blue colour she was born with. Lauren looked up and caught a glimpse of her own eyes in the mirror on the other side of the room… "Amber…"
"Hmm?" Joey questioned
"We should call her Amber" she informed him "her eyes are already turning that colour and mine are that too, I guess"
"I think it's perfect" he admitted "Amber Branning... ye I really like it" he smiled and kissed Lauren quickly "you know, your eyes are the first thing I saw when I meet you, you big beautiful doe eyes, one look and I was under."
"I have my charms" she grinned back "so are we agreed then?"
Joey nodded "Welcome to the world Amber"
so Lauren and Joey have a plan, but how far will it go ? And now poor Laurens having side effects from the drugs... lets just say the drama ain't all over yet ... back tomorrow! Xxx