Jasmine Smith, 23, gave birth to Ayla-Grace with the new arrival weighing just 1lb 15oz.
The little tot still had three-and-a-half month to go until her due date. But at Jasmineās 24-week check-up, the Grimsby mum noticed she had developed swelling in her legs, ankles and hands.
She was told it was too early to be pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy complication that causes high blood pressure and signs of damage to another organ system.
A week later, she rang her midwife and mentioned the swelling and was advised to elevate her legs for two and half hours to see if that helped.
When nothing changed, she was admitted to Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital, in Grimsby where her health started to deteriorate quickly.
āMy world got turned upside down and I was terrified,ā Jasmine, a mum-of-two, explained. āAll I remember thinking was āI never thought this would happen to meā.
āNo one wants to think that this is going to happen to them but when it does itās the scariest thing in the world!
āI had three doctors in my room at 2am listening to my daughterās heartbeat and they brought a sonographer in to check on her.
āMy liver was failing and Iād had a placental abruption. My daughter had no blood flow.
āThey then told me that if we didnāt get her out there and then she wasnāt going to make it and neither would I.ā
After spending three weeks in neonatal intensive care following the surgery ā where nurses even drew her pictures as mementos ā Ayla-Grace was finally able to come home on her due date, and is now thriving.
Jasmine said: āIt almost didnāt feel real when she came home because we spent the whole three and a half months in hospital.ā
āIt was also hard at first because I was scared of getting things wrong with Ayla-Graceās medications.ā
Incredibly, despite her ordeal, Ayla-Grace is a āhappy little girlā ā though she continues to have chronic lung disease and requires oxygen constantly.
Jasmine has been informed that her daughter will not always require oxygen and may be able to go without it by the time she turns one.