Loud voices. ‘Heart rate is dropping. We need to move.’ Everything sped up. There was movement, a lot of movement. They were wheeling her down for surgery.

When she woke, Jenny was in a very quiet room with a faint beeping in the background. The walls were white and she was covered in a pale blue sheet. Her head felt weird. Foggy. Like it was filled with cotton wool. Dan was standing in front of her holding a baby. A sleeping baby dressed in a yellow babygro. She was sure she had seen that babygro before. Dan was smiling. ‘Hey,’ he whispered. ‘This is Henry.’

Henry? That was the boy’s name they had chosen: Elizabeth for a girl; Henry for a boy. Was this their baby? Dan brought him a little closer to her. It was their baby. They had an actual, real-life baby.

The relief on Dan’s face was almost tangible. ‘Are you feeling okay? We’re still in the recovery room, so take your time.’

Was she feeling okay? Physically, she didn’t feel anything but exhausted. But something wasn’t right. Wasn’t she supposed to be the one holding the baby? Wasn’t this the moment when Dan should tell her how amazing she was? Where she should sit up drinking tea and eating toast whilst everyone cooed around her?

‘I think I’m going to be sick.’

Expertly, a nurse slipped a bowl under her chin and held her hair out of the way. ‘It’s the anaesthetic. It can affect you like that.’

The ward was quiet. There were four beds in this section, and the other three were unoccupied. The nurse had placed Henry next to her on the bed and then wheeled them both to the ward, while Dan followed behind, looking like he’d just escaped a train wreck. Maybe the jubilation would come later.

Dan kissed her and stroked Henry’s cheek with his finger. ‘You did it, Jen.’

She didn’t feel like she’d done anything. She felt like it had been done to her. Tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘It wasn’t supposed to be like this.’

Dan nodded and bit his lip.