This paper is a group's case study of a mother when her infant is prematurely born by caesarean section and there is danger of death to both. The group's thinking is tentative and hopefully inviting of further thinking by the readers. For us this was a unique opportunity to share Deedie's (the mother's) firsthand experience of a sensitive and traumatic time. We came to understand that her awakening from an emotional deadness did not return her to a normal state, but led to a revival of the earliest primitive template of her psychic functioning. Covering the first three months of her infant's life, we see the changes in her inner world from an affectless state of shock to an enactment of her most primitive fears and impulses as she struggles towards motherhood. We hope this paper goes some way towards showing the special challenge for the mother whose infant is in neonatal intensive care.