Amber blinked several times after she heard the doctor. She was confused and wasn't sure if she heard right.

"I'm sorry," Amber said to the doctor "Min's baby? But.. but her term isn't... I mean she should due in early December?"

The doctor sighed "Yes, the baby is premature. I contacted the hospital where Miss Lee was without any consent because I didn't know what to do. I found out about her drug abuse history and it makes everything a lot more complicated for him"

"Where is he?" Amber looked at the doctor

"He's in the incubator at the NICU - our neonatal intensive care unit" he answered

"How's Min? Miss Lee, I mean" Amber asked again

The doctor stared at her, he inhaled before he answered "That is exactly why I need you here. Miss Liu, we don't know where she is"

"What?" Amber shook her head in disbelieve "She ran away after giving birth? How is that even possible?"

"No, it's not like that," the doctor said "Miss Liu, our security found the baby just outside the hospital`s fence. He was wrapped in a thin sheet with a napkin with your name on it." The doctor reached into his pocket and took out his cellphone "I had to give the napkin to the police as evidence but I made a picture of it"

Amber's hand trembled as she took the cell phone and saw a dirty napkin with her name and her cell phone on it. Under her name was a sentence written. "Please take care of him." Amber recognized Min's handwriting. Underneath was two words scribbled "Sorry. Min" 

She was speechless and gave the cell phone back to the doctor "How?"

"I crossed check medical records and found your name as Miss Lee's guardian as she was hospitalized not long ago. I called the police and got Miss Lee's medical record transferred. The police are looking for her but until now the search is empty. I need someone to make a decision for the baby and considering that you were listed as Miss Lee's guardian and also your number was the one left with the baby" He paused noticing that Amber was still having a hard time understanding everything "I am so sorry, Miss Liu. I know this is a lot to chew in such short time but we really need to talk about the baby"

"Can I? Decide? I mean, I am not a relative to Min. We had a relationship in the past but is it okay?" Amber was confused.

The doctor nodded "I talk with the child services. The napkin Miss Lee left holds as her will until we found her, which put you as the legal guardian of the baby."

Amber nodded "How can I be of help?"

"It's better that we go to the NICU to see him together," he said "It's on the other side of the building. It's better if your family comes along"

Amber nodded "Can you give me a few minutes to talk to my girlfriend?" 

"Yeah, sure. I'll wait just around the corner, okay?" the doctor disappear into the corner

"Hey," Krystal said while Jiyoon's hair "How is it? Is Min alright?"

Amber sighed and told Krystal what the doctor told her "He said I should come along to see the baby"

"You do that" Krystal hold Amber's hand

"It's on the other side of the building so you should come," Amber said "Let me carry Jiyoon"

Krystal placed her hand on Amber's arm "Baby, I think it's better if we take a cab and go home. Let Jiyoon sleep in her bed."

Amber sighed. Krystal had a point but Amber actually wanted to have Krystal next to her if she were needed to make a decision about the baby. She wasn't sure what was coming and having Krystal with her will make it easier for her to make any decision. 

"You will be fine" Krystal reassured Amber

"I know that it's better for you to go home, we don't know how long this gonna take but I really want you with me there" Amber forced a smile

"We can't carry Jiyoon here and there," Krystal said

"I know" Amber sighed

At that time the doctor came back "Miss Liu, NICU just paged me. We really need to go"

"I am sorry. Okay" Amber looked at Krystal and said "Let's go get a cab for you"

"Miss Liu, if you want to, there is a family waiting room in the NICU. It's empty right now, so your family can wait there if they want to."

Krystal nodded "I think that will do."

"Good. Let's go then" the doctor lead the way while Amber lifted Jiyoon in her arms.

The waiting room was next to the nurse room. The night shift nurse was so nice and promised Krystal and Amber to keep an eye on Jiyoon. They thanked her and went to the doctor. They walked to a clear windowed room with the curtain closed. 

"He is in the incubator. You guys need to put on mask and gloves to enter the room. You can only see him from outside for now, but I want you to see his condition first before we talk about the treatment"

Amber and Krystal nodded. A nurse helped them putting on the right equipment before the stood in front of the window.

Before the window was opened the doctor said "It could be hard to see a baby in this condition. He's very underweight, he is connected to diverse equipment, There are iv lines and a stomach tube" 

Krystal closed her eyes and inhaled deeply to prepare herself. She gasped and without even noticing tears fell on her cheeks as she first saw the baby. he was really tiny compared to other babies they had seen. He breathed rapidly, his chest went up and down in such rapid movement. His skin was red, it was not pinkish like other babies, his' was just red. 

Krystal wiped her tears. It looked like he was struggling even to breath. Even for Amber, it was hard to see how such tiny creature fight to get air into his lungs. 

"Miss Lee was already on her 31 weeks, normally the baby would weight around 1,6 kg but due to her history with the drugs and not taking the vitamins during her pregnancy, he is malnourished. He weighs only 980 gram and that makes his chance of survival decreases significantly," the doctor explained "As you can see he is having problem breathing, it seems his lungs didn't produce enough surfactants"

"Is there nothing you can do to help?" Amber asked

"We already gave him some surfactants, but right now the problem is his muscles aren't strong enough to do that"

"What can we do to help?" Amber looked at the doctor.

"Let's go to my office to talk," he said

Krystal didn't want to leave, she wanted to stay with the baby but the doctor reassured her that there is nothing she could do for him right now. The most important thing is to talk about how they are going to deal with the problem.

After Amber and Krystal sat down in the doctor office, he started to say "I'm going to be direct with you. What the baby needs right now is a ventilator to help him breathe. But it also means that we need to sedate him to tolerate the machine. We have to place a central venous catheter for us to be able to administer the drugs"

He paused for a minute, looking how Amber and Krystal is taking the news before continue "A central venous catheter could cause pneumothorax, it means the lungs could collapse. It could cause hemorrhaging, even cardiac arrest. But it is actually the least problem of all. If he is on the ventilator, the chance of him having a hospital-acquired pneumonia is higher than a normal baby, it means high dose antibiotics. Another problem is the likeliness for brain hemorrhage on premature babies with long-term ventilator therapy"

Amber couldn't believe what she just heard. She was scared, confused. 

"What do you suggest we do? What should I do?" Amber looked at him hopelessly

"I can only tell you the side effects and the possible complications, Miss Liu. The decision is yours" Dr.Kim said 

"I don't know. How am I supposed to decide? How could someone make a decision on things like this?" Amber shook her head. 

Dr. Kim nodded "I understand. People decide very differently, there are parents who decided for a conservative way, they let go of their babies knowing that the chance of survival is minimum and most of the children who do survive had complications in various ways. Mostly with brain damage. Others decided to fight and accepted whatever the outcome"

"How is his chance of surviving?" Krystal said

"Not good," the doctor said

"Is there already a damage you already know?" she asked again "Brain damage or heart failure or anything like that?"

"From our tests until now, we didn't find anything like that. His heart developed well, there is no sign of brain damage" The doctor flipped the chart "This is the reason I needed to talk to Miss Liu. Because he doesn't have anything severe right now that I am considering to put him on a ventilator, there is a chance that he might survive but the chance of having complications are so high"

"If you think he might make it, I think we should give him a chance" Krystal looked at Amber

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