'I still haven't held my son, he's two weeks-old' said Charlotte Livesey whose baby boy is fighting for his life after being born prematurely.
And she has offered her heartfelt thanks to all those who have supported her to stay close to her son, so she is never more than minutes away from his bedside.
Charlotte' s son Blair was born on August 27 after a pregnancy of 26 weeks - making him extremely premature.
The 26-year-old and her partner, Ryan O'Callaghan, 33, live in Atherton but have been staying in a hotel to be close to their son.
He is currently at the NICU in St Mary's Hospital in Manchester - and just last week took a turn for the worse.
Charlotte, who is originally from Astley, said: "They needed to discharge me because they needed the bed.
"But he took quite a bad turn on Saturday - so we didn't want to be more than five minutes away from him.
Ryan O'Callaghan and Charlotte Livesey (Image: Charlotte Livesey) "I still haven't held my son and he's two weeks old - we thought I might be able to for my birthday last week but then he took a turn for the worst."
She said that their home is too far to travel - and they don't want to spend more than a few minutes away from their son while he is fighting for his life.
She said: "We would have to get a train journey and a bus journey - but obviously I've had a c-section and I still need to be resting.
"It's been awful - it's just not what you expect.
Baby Blair took a bad turn last week and the couple don't want to leave his side (Image: Charlotte Livesey) "You don't realise it can happen - it's been stressful - you can go in one day and he's doing really well or you could go in another day and one of his lungs is a bit collapsed.
"He's still fighting and that's all that matters."
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They started a GoFundMe campaign to let them stay close to their son - which has now reached over £4k.
You can find it at https://www.gofundme.com/f/blairs-parents-to-be-near-him
The couple is staying in a Travelodge which is a ten minute walk from their son, but is still holding out hope for a place in the Ronald McDonald House - which allows families to stay close to their children in hospital.
Charlotte said that she put her application in on August 31, but since then there's been "no movement at all."
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She said: "Thank God for all those nice people who have donated - we have not had to worry about how to pay our bills.
"Even just the social media side of it - we've had people messaging us and telling us their stories.
She said that she has joined a Facebook group for mothers of premature children and said reading about other people's stories is "comforting".