Dee-Dee Bailey (Channique Sterling-Brown) has a huge decision to make on Coronation Street about her unborn baby in upcoming episodes.
Dee-Dee discovered she was pregnant last year and knew that the father was Joel Deering (Calum Lill) – her ex-fiance and an evil man who was guilty of horrific, violent crimes. Dee-Dee didn’t feel that she could bring up the child of such a man and planned to have an abortion.
She changed her mind when she discovered that Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton)’s baby Frankie – also the child of Joel Deering – needed a bone marrow transplant. Her unborn baby could be a good match and could help to save Frankie’s life. Dee-Dee agreed for Frankie’s sake not to go through with the abortion, but planned to have the baby adopted soon after its birth.
Two huge things then happened to throw Dee-Dee’s plans up in the air. The first was the hospital finding a good bone marrow donor for Frankie, meaning that he would be fine without her baby’s help.
The second was the arrival back in Weatherfield of her brother James (Jason Callender). He suggested that he and his partner Danny could adopt the baby and raise it as their child.
Dee-Dee reacted angrily to this proposal and accused James of conspiring with their dad Ed (Trevor Michael Georges) to come up with the plan. She insisted that she wouldn’t be giving her baby to James and would be going ahead with an adoption outside the family, as planned.
When she went for a meeting with some prospective parents and took Sarah (Tina O’Brien) for support, James realised that her mind was made up.
In upcoming episodes Dee-Dee is still struggling with her decision, wanting to do the right thing for her baby.
She agrees to join her brother for lunch, but suddenly she gets pains that feel like contractions and James helps her to get to the hospital. The midwife explains that it was false contractions and the baby isn’t ready to be born yet.
In a moment of closeness, James tells her that he and Danny previously looked into adoption and came very close to adopting a little boy. Things didn’t work out and the couple were left heartbroken.
Hearing how much being a dad means to her brother, Dee-Dee starts to consider whether the arrangement might work.
Will she decide to hand her baby over to James?
