WHEN Sophie Howard went into labour just 24 weeks into her pregnancy, doctors told her there was a big chance her baby would not survive.
But little Mae Howard-Jackson defied science and was born healthy, despite weighing just 1.7 pounds.
Sophie and her partner Nathan were able to bring their bundle of joy home for the first time – nearly four months after she was born.
"She is a little miracle," said Sophie, 22, of Dawberry Place, South Woodham Ferrers.
"All we kept getting told is she might be born with complications, cerebral palsy, eye problems or brain problems, but she didn't even need to come home on an oxygen tank.
"We have been through every hurdle and she has come out fighting."
Sophie noticed some slight pains in her stomach after returning from a holiday in Mexico with partner Nathan Jackson, 26.
She called Broomfield Hospital, which told her to come in immediately.
"They took one look at me and said my cervix had already started dilating," said Sophie.
"It is a good job I went in, because otherwise I might have had her down the toilet she was that small.
"I was waiting in the hospital for five days, they said they needed the baby to get to 24 weeks, otherwise there was hardly any chance of survival.
"As they were taking the baby out, everyone was in absolute silence, and I said 'can I see'.
"I picked her up in her little bag to keep her warm, and I just remember she looked like a skinned rabbit, her skin was see-through and she had a little bit of hair and eyelashes."
Mae was born at Broomfield Hospital on July 17, before being taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where nurses helped to build up her strength so she could go home.
Sophie and Nathan had to wait a month for their first cuddle as a family, when she was finally taken off the many tubes, ventilators and cannulas that had kept her alive.
They were planning on getting married before having their first child, but always spoke about having children.
"It was probably a bit of carelessness by us, Mae's the result of a Valentine's Day night," said Sophie, who works at a commercial catering firm in Basildon.
"But all the family was over the moon when they found out. I just can't believe how much stress we have had to endure.
"She has been at home with us for a couple of weeks now. She has had her eyes and her ears tested and she is fine, she is a little angel. I am stunned that she is as perfect as she is."
