Two days old: I fear we’re losing him

IT’S our fifth wedding anniversary and I’m being discharged when the neonatal unit rings to say Alfie is struggling. I fear we will lose him. His skin looks black and his stomach is swollen.

He may have something called necrotising enterocolitis, an intestinal problem that means his bowel cannot process waste. It can be fatal.

I can’t face being 40 minutes away at home in Bilbrough, near York, and accept when I’m offered a room by The Sick Children’s Trust to stay nearby.