When Laura Hill’s ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀs ʙʀᴏᴋᴇ after only 16 weeks of pregnancy, doctors advised her to seek a ᴛᴇʀᴍɪɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴ.

Not only was her own health at ʀɪsᴋ, but the baby had only a one percent chance of survival. Even then, he would probably have ᴅᴇᴠᴀsᴛᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴘʀᴏʙʟᴇᴍs, such as ʙʀᴀɪɴ ᴅᴀᴍᴀɢᴇ.

But certain she had already felt his first kicks, Miss Hill defied the doctors’ advice. “I said one percent is still a chance he could live, and I didn’t want to give up on my baby,” she said.

She gave birth to Charlie after a pregnancy that almost lasted a full term, and five months later he is in perfect health. “I was determined to hold on to him,” said Miss Hill, 20, from Norwich. “I just wanted to keep him safe.”

Miss Hill, who lives with trainee mechanic Richard Folkard, 22, and their two-year-old daughter, Tillie, had a scan at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital after her ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀs ʙʀᴏᴋᴇ.

“I was told I was likely to go into labor within two weeks and that the baby only had a one percent chance of survival, and if he did survive, there would be a chance of ʙʀᴀɪɴ ᴅᴀᴍᴀɢᴇ ᴏʀ ʟᴜɴɢ ᴅᴇꜰᴏʀᴍɪᴛɪᴇs,” she said.

Over the following weeks, she had sᴄᴀɴs ᴀɴᴅ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴛᴇsᴛs twice a week while preparing for the worst by planning her unborn baby’s funeral.

At 21 weeks, the tests revealed the ᴍᴇᴍʙʀᴀɴᴇ had resealed, and by 24 weeks, she was ‘amazed’ to be told it had completely filled up with ᴀᴍɴɪᴏᴛɪᴄ ꜰʟᴜɪᴅ again.

Charlie was born weighing 7lb 3oz on her birthday, March 1. “He cried, but it was a weak cry, so I started panicking,” she said. “But then the midwife told me, ‘He’s perfectly normal. He’s your little miracle’.”

Mr. Folkard said, “When I first saw his head and heard his first cry, I thought, ‘We have got our little boy. He’s safe here with us’. I was so happy.”

Consultant obstetrician Alastair McKelvey said things had looked ‘ʙʟᴇᴀᴋ’ for Miss Hill as she was weeks away from a viable birth and the lack of ᴀᴍɴɪᴏᴛɪᴄ ꜰʟᴜɪᴅ would normally prevent the ꜰᴇᴛᴜs’s ʟᴜɴɢs from developing properly.

“But, wonderfully, when the time came and Laura had a normal birth, the baby’s breathing was completely normal. While Laura’s story is not unique, it is the first I’ve seen in my career.”