Once upon a time, in the quiet little town of Nether.. lived a little girl with curling blonde hair and bright blue eyes and, her name was Planette.
Planette was an only child and she was often found playing with her collection of paper doillies, when she wasn't cutting out new ones. She had lots and lots of paper doillies, almost 20! This was because, since her sixth birthday, her Mum allowed her to use scissors. Planette's Mum had bought her a special pair of scissors, they were just for her. They were bright yellow and just the right size for her hands. She was always very careful when she was cutting out her paper doillies, they were very intricate (fiddly). Planette always remembered her Mum's advice and kept her promise to never ever cut anything she shouldn't, especially her fingers.
She'd always been a happy little girl, until recently. Lately she'd noticed that her friends always had someone else to play with, they had brothers and/or sisters. When she'd asked her Mum, "Why don't I have any brothers or sisters?", her Mum answered, "Some Mum's and Dad's are blessed more than others." So Planette had added to her prayers...
"... and God please bless Mummy and Daddy with a baby, and please could it be a sister for me, Amen". Planette's Mum had looked quite sad but smiled at her the first time she heard the revised prayer.
Planette had also noticed that her friends had Dads that came home from work every evening and were there all weekend. Her friends weren't available to play at weekends, their Dads took them out. When Planette asked her Mum about this she'd said, "Well, their Dad's work locally and your Dad works at sea, that means your Dad travels around the world with his job and can't come home for months."
One day her Mum took her on the bus to visit her Aunty, on the way they stopped at their Doctor's and when Planette's Mum came out from seeing the Doctor, she was very excited. She told her, "We're going to have a baby!" Planette was very happy. She asked if it would be a baby brother or baby sister and her Mum said, "We'll just have to wait and see".
Nine months seemed such a long time to Planette, she told her cousins this while they were visiting with her Aunty. After a couple of hours of both Mums excitedly discussing the new baby, Planette's Mum told her Aunty, "Well, Planette has been a bit poorly lately, that's why I booked the appointment." then added, "Why are your children off school?", as Planette watched, her Mum's face changed when her Aunty mentioned German Measles (Rubella). Her Mum told her they had to leave straight away and were going back to the Doctor's surgery before they got on their bus home.
Her Mum cried quietly on the bus home, "German measles must be really bad." thought Planette.
