Dee-Dee Bailey (Channique Sterling-Brown) went through a rollercoaster of emotions in Coronation Street after she discovered she was pregnant.
The father of the baby was her former fiancé, evil Joel Deering (Calum Lill), and Dee-Dee couldn’t cope with the idea that she was carrying the child of someone who’d done such terrible things.
She only went through with the pregnancy because her child could potentially be a life-saving bone marrow donor for Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton)’s son Frankie.
After a horrific birth experience during which she lost a lot of blood and had to have a hysterectomy, Dee-Dee had to come to terms with the news that she wouldn’t be able to have any more children. She was also determined to do something about the racism she encountered from the maternity department.
As for the baby, Laila, she’d decided early on that she would give her up for adoption. Arrangements were made for her brother James (Jason Callender) and his partner Danny to adopt the baby.
They were unable to take Laila straight away, so the Bailey family cared for Laila in the meantime. However this meant that Dee-Dee spent more time with her and she realised she was becoming attached to her.
People she confided in, such as Eileen (Sue Cleaver) and Alya (Sair Khan), insisted it wasn’t too late for her to decide to keep the baby. Alya said that James would forgive her eventually and she should follow her heart.
Despite this advice, Dee-Dee told James that she wanted him to take Laila back to America with him – and the sooner the better. Even so, she was devastated as she watched her brother leaving the Street with her baby.
In episodes airing soon, Dee-Dee is focusing on work and her campaign to ensure better training for midwives. She tells Ed (Trevor Michael Georges) that she’s taken on a custody case, and her dad worries that the similarities with her own situation make it a difficult subject for her to be dealing with.
Dee-Dee tells Daniel (Rob Mallard) that she’s certain she made the right decision in giving Laila to James and Danny to bring up, but her family are less convinced and hope she doesn’t end up regretting her decision.
That is about to be put to the test because, as Dee-Dee and Daniel head out of the bistro a taxi pulls up – and James gets out, carrying Laila.
