Chapter 11 - SOPHIE’S FIRST WEEK
Sophie stayed on respiratory support for three days.
Then nasal oxygen.
Then room air.
She had trouble coordinating feeding.
Normal for her gestational age, the neonatologist said.
She experienced no major brain hemorrhage.
Good.
No severe infection.
Good.
Every good sentence arrived with another uncertainty.
She would remain in the NICU until she could regulate temperature, feed reliably, and grow.
Lauren sat beside the incubator for hours.
Brent was barred from unrestricted hospital access after the protective order.
He could receive medical updates through counsel and later through agreed channels regarding Sophie.
He remained her father.
That fact complicated everything.
Lauren asked:
“Can he see her?”
Jasmine answered:
“That’s a legal and safety decision, not something you have to settle today.”
Lauren cried.
“I don’t want to take his baby.”
I almost shouted:
He almost took yours.
Daniel touched my arm.
Stop.
Lauren needed a sister, not prosecution.
“He’s still her father,” she said.
“Yes.”
“And he loves her.”
“Yes.”
“Can somebody love you and do that?”
The question was not about Sophie.
I said:
“I think people can love and still be unsafe.”
May you like
Lauren nodded.
That became the sentence she repeated for years.
