Miracle baby celebrates her first birthday - one year after her parents were ... trends now
Cradling her premature daughter in her arms for the first time, it was a bittersweet moment for Naomi Southern-Augustine.
For she had just been told tiny Wren was unlikely to survive health complications after being born at just 22 weeks and six days - and family and friends should hurry to say their goodbyes.
But it ended up being a 'turning point' for Wren, who rallied after the skin-to-skin contact with Miss Southern-Augustine and her partner, Rob McDonagh.
She was finally allowed home after 131 days in neonatal units and this month celebrated her first birthday, with no serious side-effects from her unusually early arrival.
'Developmentally she's hitting her milestones for her corrected age, which is eight months,' said Miss Southern-Augustine, 33.
Naomi Southern-Augustine with her daughter, Wren, who was not expected to survive after arriving four months premature
The tiny youngster weighed just 14oz when she was born four months early, last April
Cradling her premature daughter in her arms for the first time, it was a bittersweet moment for Naomi Southern-Augustine. She had just been told tiny Wren was unlikely to survive health complications after being born at just 22 weeks and six days - and family and friends should hurry to say their goodbyes
Hugging her daughter for the first time ended up being a 'turning point' for Wren, who rallied after the skin-to-skin contact with Miss Southern-Augustine and her partner, Rob McDonagh
'She started crawling on Saturday. It was amazing. She's been trying to do it for a while, bouncing on all fours. I can't believe how fast she is already.'
Wren weighed just 14oz when she was born on April 6 last year after her mother's waters broke, despite a textbook pregnancy before that.
Any chance of allowing her to develop for longer inside the womb were dashed because there was so little amniotic fluid left.
Despite being the smallest baby ever treated at the neonatal intensive care unit at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital in Bedfordshire, she 'sailed' through her first two weeks, even though she remained in an incubator and needed blood transfusions, as well as antibiotics to fight off sepsis.
But she then began to struggle and an X-ray revealed a serious infection of her underdeveloped lungs that was 'progressing at an alarming rate', requiring her to receive 100 per cent oxygen.
Doctors went for 'last resort territory' by placing Wren on an oscillating ventilator, which helps expand the lungs.
But she didn't respond to the treatment and turned 'grey/blue'.
'After that, the consultant said 'We've tried everything but she's too little', said Miss Southern-Augustine, herself a nurse.
'They said they could try steroids, which come with their own risks because it makes you more susceptible to infection, or palliative care.
'I knew she was suffering at this point and I didn't want to selfishly keep her alive if she was suffering, but Rob wanted to try.
'We didn't think the steroids would help and we got our families to come and say goodbye.
'She was 17 days old and it was the first time I'd got to hold her. I'd made
