Brown's wife to leave hospital

Gordon Brown paid tribute to the NHS

Chancellor Gordon Brown's wife is likely to be out of hospital on Thursday but she will be leaving their new-born daughter behind.

Little Jennifer was born seven weeks early and will have to remain in hospital until February, the chancellor said.

A spokeswoman for Forth Park Maternity Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, said Sarah Brown "is due to leave tomorrow, all being well".

Proud

Her proud husband smiled broadly as he visited her on New Year's Day.

On Monday he reported his daughter, who was born on Friday by Caesarean section, weighing only 2lb 4oz, was doing "a lot better today".

He added: "Jennifer is looking very nice."

Dr Mahmood delivered the baby

The Brown family were also visited by the Chancellor's key adviser Ed Balls, his wife, junior health minister Yvette Cooper and their two young children on Monday.

Earlier, the "delighted" chancellor paid tribute to the doctors and the nurses who delivered his daughter, saying that the birth had been "difficult" but that everything had gone "smoothly" since.

Doctors made the decision to operate following a routine scan on Thursday and consultation with colleagues and the parents.

Mr Brown, 50, who began his paternity leave immediately after the birth, showed no sign of his Iron Chancellor reputation as he said that his daughter was the "most beautiful in the world".

'Superb feeling'

Mr Brown said: "It is overwhelming. I have probably waited a longer time than most people to be a father and it is just a superb feeling."

He said he was "looking forward" to the changes that the birth will bring to his life.

Mr Brown thanked hospital staff

Consultant neo-natalogist Dr Laura Stewart said Jennifer was receiving photo-therapy treatment for jaundice - a condition she described as "very common" in premature babies.

Dr Tahir Mahmood, the consultant obstetrician who delivered her said the baby had been suffering from intra-uterine growth restriction, a condition which occurs in 10% of pregnancies and causes the child to have an irregular heart rate.

A spokesman for the chancellor said that Mr Brown and his wife had chosen the name Jennifer because they thought it fitted their new daughter.

Jane was chosen as her middle name because it is Mrs Brown's middle name and also a family name.

The chancellor and 37-year-old Sarah were married in a private ceremony in Fife, Scotland, in August last year.