Please Don’t Take My Baby and I Miss Mummy 2-in-1 Collection

Fifteen minutes later the ambulance pulled into the ambulance park at the side of the main A&E entrance. Dave got out and opened the rear doors, and then he took out and unfolded the wheelchair. Lyn helped Jade off the couch and down the steps while I followed with Jade’s coat, which she’d taken off in the ambulance. Once seated in the wheelchair, Jade took out her phone and was about to use it. ‘Not in the hospital, Jade,’ I said. ‘It affects the instruments.’ She sighed but closed her phone.

Lyn called a goodbye and stayed with the ambulance while I followed Dave, pushing Jade in the wheelchair. We went into the hospital, down a short corridor and into a curtained cubicle. A nurse appeared and helped Jade out of the wheelchair and on to the couch. Dave collapsed the wheelchair and said goodbye. I thanked him as he left.

‘Is me mum here?’ Jade asked the nurse.

‘I’ll find out in a moment,’ she said, setting up the monitor.

‘Shall I have a look?’ I asked, to save her the trouble.

‘Yes please, and can you register Jade at reception?’

I left the cubicle and went down the corridor that led into the main reception and waiting area. It was busy, with the rows of seats full of people waiting to be seen. As I appeared through the double doors Jackie rushed up to me.

‘I’ve just arrived,’ she said, breathless. ‘How is she?’

‘A nurse is with Jade now,’ I said. ‘I guess we’ll know more when she’s been seen by a doctor. I’ve been asked to register Jade. Can you come, as you know all her medical history?’

Jackie and I went to the reception desk, where Jackie gave the information that was requested, and then I showed her through the double doors, back down the corridor and to the cubicle where I’d left Jade.

‘Oh Mum!’ Jade cried as soon as she saw her mother.

Jackie went over and hugged her daughter, all previous hostility between them now gone.

‘The doctor will be in to see Jade soon,’ the nurse said, and left the cubicle.

Jackie pulled the only chair in the cubicle closer to the bed head and sat beside her daughter while I hovered at the foot of the bed. Jade seemed to be more relaxed now she was in hospital and had stopped groaning; I suppose she felt reassured. While I was more than happy to stay for as long as necessary, as mother and daughter talked I began to feel I was intruding and that perhaps I should offer to leave Jackie alone with her daughter for a while. I was thinking of suggesting that I sat in the waiting area when Jade looked up from the bed and said, a little rudely: ‘You can go home now. Me mum’s staying with me.’

‘I can stay,’ Jackie confirmed, glancing at me. ‘Margaret is looking after the kids. She can stay all night if necessary.’

Had Jade been a younger child in care I would have had to stay even if the child’s mother had been present; as the foster carer the child was my responsibility, and to leave her alone with her mother would have been unsupervised contact. But at Jade’s age she could decide who she wanted with her in hospital and she wanted her mother, not me.

‘All right, if you’re sure,’ I said.

‘Yeah. I’ll see what the doctor says and take it from there,’ Jackie said.

‘I want you to stay, Mum!’ Jade cried theatrically, grabbing her mother’s hand.

‘Yes, I’m staying, baby,’ Jackie said. Then to me: ‘Give me your number and I’ll phone you when there’s any news.’

‘Thank you,’ I said, and gave Jackie my mobile number. ‘Do you want me to get you a coffee or anything from the machine before I leave?’

‘No thanks, love. I had one earlier.’

I said goodbye to Jade and Jackie and came out of the cubicle, still not really knowing if Jade was in labour. It was now after 9.00 p.m. and I went through reception and outside, where I stood under the canopied entrance and phoned for a cab. While I waited for the cab to arrive I phoned Homefinders. Jill answered and I updated her.

‘Thanks, Cathy,’ she said. ‘Jade will be in the hospital overnight whatever the outcome, so go home and get some sleep and I’ll speak to you in the morning.’

The cab arrived ten minutes later and so did Tyler, although he didn’t see me, as he was in too much of a hurry, and ran straight past.

It was 9.30 when I arrived home and Adrian and Paula were asleep in bed. Sue was watching television. I told Sue I’d left Jade with her mother, who would phone me when there was any news.

‘Jade’s very young to be having a baby,’ Sue said.

‘I know.’ Sue, like most of my friends, appreciated I couldn’t discuss the children I fostered and didn’t press me for more details.

I thanked Sue again as I saw her out. ‘You’re welcome,’ she said.

I was exhausted but I knew I wouldn’t sleep; I was still high on adrenalin. I made a hot drink and with my mobile on the sofa beside me I watched television until eleven o’clock. Then, more relaxed, I settled Toscha in her basket in the kitchen and went upstairs. I was asleep within minutes and I slept soundly until 6.00 a.m.

As soon as I woke, my thoughts went to Jade and I took my mobile from the bedside cabinet. A text had come through at 3.21 from a number my phone didn’t recognize. I opened it: Jade had a baby girl at 3 a.m. Courtney. 6lb 8oz. They’re both well. Jackie x

Chapter Eleven (#ulink_e2cb93a0-d74b-53bb-baac-960be26261d6)

‘Smelly Baby’ (#ulink_e2cb93a0-d74b-53bb-baac-960be26261d6)

I thought 6.00 a.m. was probably too early to telephone Jackie, especially as she would have been at the hospital most of the night, so I texted: Congratulations! Love Cathy x. I texted the same message to Jade, who I guessed would have her mobile switched on at the hospital, I hoped on silent.

Before getting out of bed I telephoned Jill, who I assumed would just be finishing night duty. I was right.

She yawned as she spoke. ‘Hi, Cathy. Any news?’

‘Yes. Jade had a baby girl at three o’clock this morning. Courtney. Six pounds eight ounces. Jackie texted that they are both fine.’

‘Fantastic,’ Jill said, rallying from her tiredness. ‘That is good news. Although at six pounds eight ounces she doesn’t sound like a premature baby to me – more like full term. Do you know if she’s in an incubator?’

‘Jackie didn’t say. But I think she would have mentioned it if she was, so I guess not.’

‘So it’s likely Jade had her dates wrong. Oh well, at least they are both well. Do you have any other details?’

‘No. Just the text message.’

‘OK. I’ll phone Rachel later when I’ve had a sleep. In the meantime let the agency know if you hear any more news, please.’

‘I will.’

The arrival of a baby – whatever the circumstances of its birth or the problems surrounding the mother – is, I feel, a miracle. A new life is truly a wondrous occasion and guaranteed to raise the spirits and put a smile on anyone’s face. As I showered and dressed that morning my heart was light, lighter than it had been since Jade had arrived, for I hoped – no, believed – that now Jade was responsible for a baby she would turn her life around and get back on track. I therefore envisaged a happy ending to what could have been a very tragic story.

I was still very light-hearted when I woke first Paula and then Adrian and told them it was time to get up and ready for school. ‘Jade had her baby last night,’ I said to each of them, smiling. ‘She’s called Courtney and they are both well.’

Paula was more impressed than Adrian and, grinning broadly, she said, ‘I’m telling all my friends at school that our big girl has a baby.’ And with a little clap of her hands she leapt out of bed.

Adrian was more reserved, natural for a lad of twelve, and said: ‘I hope she’s not bringing it here. Babies cry a lot and smell disgusting!’

‘Adrian,’ I admonished lightly, opening his bedroom curtains. ‘You were a baby once. Just as well I didn’t think that about you. Babies smell lovely. But no, Jade won’t be bringing her baby here. Her social worker will have found her a mother-and-baby placement by the time Jade leaves hospital.

Just before I left the house that morning to take Paula to school I received a text from Jackie in response to the one I’d sent earlier, congratulating her: Thanks. Tkng day off work 2 go 2 the hospital. Which added to my feeling of well-being: now Jackie was reunited with her daughter and was supporting her, all would be well.

Let me know if there’s anything I can do, I texted back.