She crouched uncomfortably on her knee, resting against the cot, its bars now imprinted on her cheek, one hand gently stroking soft baby hair and her finger tightly embraced within her baby’s tiny fist.
Her son’s thumb had found its way into his mouth and a quiet suckling broke the silence in the dark.
She held her breath and very, very delicately extricated her finger from his sleeping grasp, then slid her arms out through the bars as carefully as if they were laser beams, and slowly, very slowly rose to her feet.
Her creaking knees made her grimace and pause for a split second as the crunch echoed throughout the exhausted corridors of her mind, but she backed cautiously out of the room and pulled the bedroom door to.
She barely breathed as her ears listened for the tiniest of sounds, and as silence reigned she softly let out her breath and punched the air!