A MUM who willed her ‘miracle’ baby back to life after she stopped breathing is on a mission to raise awareness of premature births.

Vicky Whitfield from Blacon found herself in every expectant mother’s nightmare when she woke up in the middle of the night to find herself covered in blood almost three months before she was due to give birth.

This week marks a year since the 35-year-old had to be rushed to the Countess of Chester Hospital to deliver her 4lb 1.5oz baby daughter Felicity, after little more than six months of pregnancy - ironically on World Prematurity Day.

But while Felicity seemed to be coping well in her first hours of life, Vicky and husband Mike, of Blacon Hall Road, couldn’t have foreseen the agony they would have to endure over the next few days when their daughter’s lungs began to collapse.

“She had been gurgling and smiling and to be honest, I didn’t realise the significance at the time of how early she had actually been,” Vicky told The Chronicle. “Then I just decided to get up to see her in the night and suddenly all these nurses appeared and shouted at me to get my husband. I’ll never forget it as long as I live. It’s like I wasn’t there.

“When Mike arrived they told us she’d stopped breathing completely and that she wouldn’t make it. We were told to get her blessed. Words cannot explain how horrendous it was, Felicity was just like a shell.”

Devastated, Vicky and Mike, 33, arranged for their other children, Izabel, 4 and Bailey, 5, to meet their little sister, and doctors gave Vicky a special box of memories which included a photograph of Felicity.

But Vicky was not ready to say goodbye to her baby just yet.

“She was there hooked up to a monitor and I was sat by her cot. She’d been blessed and I took her hand and told her ‘you’re not going to leave me with just a box. You’re going to get through this’. I willed her to survive, and miraculously it seemed like she seemed to respond because she started to stabilise.”

Soon after, Felicity was moved to a high dependency unit at Arrowe Park Hospital to receive specialist nitric oxide, which expands the lungs, and the family were put up at the hospital’s Ronald McDonald House, which they say offered them vital support as they faced an agonising wait to see if Felicity’s condition would improve.

“It was a total waiting game,” said Vicky. “We were in a total state of panic but even though she had the nitric oxide by her cot, she didn’t actually have to have it because she was stabilised.

“She was in four days undergoing different tests, but those days seemed like months. Slowly they managed to get her off the oxygen and she started getting better.

“To see her moving and gurgling for the first time - I just can’t put it into words. It was just such an amazing feeling after what we’d been through.”

Felicity was strong enough to be transferred back to the Countess, but she was more than a week old before her mum could even hold her as Vicky developed a hematoma which left her in agonising pain and hospital-bound herself.

Thankfully, both mum and daughter made steady recoveries, and Felicity’s tests came back normal; it was later discovered she had pneumonia. A year on, she’s now a happy, healthy little girl and celebrated her first birthday on Monday.

But Vicky says the experience has made her realise how crucial the late stages of pregnancy can be, and is now determined to raise awareness of premature pregnancies, as well as funds for the neonatal unit at the Countess.

“Until you have a premature baby you can’t possibly anticipate the emotions you will experience,” explained Vicky. “The staff at the Countess and Arrowe Park were amazing - we can’t possibly thank them enough. Without them Felicity wouldn’t have survived, and we took her into the Countess on her birthday to give them a donation for all their support.

“We have a few other things planned to raise money, and have signed up for the Santa Dash. The ward needs and deserves the money, but it’s also about awareness.

“I didn’t know how significant the late stage of pregnancy was, and I want more people to be aware of it, because you hear some people saying they want to induce their babies early for whatever reason. But those last few months are so important.

“They don’t tell you to get your child blessed unless the outcome is bad. But I truly believe that helped her, it willed her to come back.”

For more information about premature babies, visit www.bliss.org.uk