I’ve got such a stitch in my side,’ I moaned to my partner Lee Sherrington as I swung my legs out of bed. ‘It’ll go as you start walking about,’ he reassurred me. But it didn’t, it just grew stronger and stronger. It was a Sunday in October 2005 and we walked over to my dad’s in the afternoon, the pains getting even worse. By the time we reached his house, I was doubled over and I couldn’t stand up. Lee ran to the nearby medical centre to see if he could get me an emergency appointment, but they told him instead to take me to hospital as it sounded like an appendicitis. So by 4pm we were on our way to Sunderland Royal Infirmary. I was crying with the pain it was so bad. Lee came with me, holding my hand. I lay down and the doctor examined me. ‘I think you could be pregnant,’ he said. It was such a shock - there was no way I could be - I was taking the contraceptive pill. But worse news was to come. Because of the pains, he thought it may be an ectopic pregnancy, where the baby is growing in the fallopian tube which can be lifethreatening, so I was rushed off for a scan. Both Lee and I were in shock. We couldn’t believe I could have been pregnant. There was only one time a few months ago when I had suffered a throat infection and had to take anitbiotics. Perhaps they had prevented the contraceptive pill was working properly then. Lee and I had never even discussed having a family. He was 25 and a railway worker, and I was just finishing a hairdressing course at our local college. We loved going out and meeting friends, we were too young and carefree. I had met Lee in February 2004. I had known him for a while through a friend, and we started seeing each other. I was still living with my mum and dad at the time, so a family definitely hadn’t been discussed. Yet here I was being wheeled down to the scanning room because they thought I was pregnant. ‘We think you are about six weeks pregnant, but you could be losing the baby,’ the doctor warned, as I was wheeled in. But then there was more shocking news to come. I was pregnant, and luckily the baby was in the right place, not in my fallopian tube. But the shocking thing was that the baby was far too big to be a six week old baby. ‘It looks like this baby is about 25 weeks, and you are actually in labour,’ the doctor told me. I just couldn’t speak, I was in so much shock. How could I possibly be more than five months pregnant and not even know it. I hadn’t put on any weight. My jeans didn’t feel any tighter. I hadn’t felt sick. How could I possibly be pregnant? But it was true. There was my baby, larger than life, on the screen infront of me. My sister Natasha, 22, had come with us to hospital and she had rung my mum as soon as we had arrived. So she was there too, looking at the screen, unable to believe what she was seeing. Then a thought struck me. I was in labour - thats what all the pain was about. But how could my baby possibly survive at just 25 weeks old. She may have been bigger than expected when we looked on the scan, but she was still too tiny to survive. The doctors tried to give me some drugs, to stop the labour. But it was too late. My baby was on her way. I was only in labour for three hours before she arrived into the world, weighing a tiny 1Ib9. As soon as she was born, the doctors whipped her away and took her to intensive care. I didn’t even get to see her, and she didn’t let out a single cry. I lay in bed recovering. Natasha also had a baby at 19, who is now three, but we all knew she was pregnant - she had a massive bump. I couldn’t believe that I was now a mother. Three hours ago I just thought I had stomach pains - now I was a mum. It was too much to take in. A few hours later I was allowed to go to the intensive care unit and see her. I couldn’t believe how tiny she was - she just looked like a tiny skinned rabbit. Her skin was see-through and she could have fitted into the palm of my hand. I just burst into tears - how could anything so tiny possibly survive. Lee was just as upset and shocked as I was. But he held me tight. ‘She’ll be alright,’ he whispered. But the doctors warned us that she would probably not make it through the first 48 hours as she was so tiny. So we sat by her bedside, never leaving, praying that she would pull through. And she did. She battled each day to get better and it was a long haul. She had chronic lung disease and numerous chest infections. And she had to have a tube put into her throat to help her breathe. She was on a ventilator for three months, then she was put onto oxygen, and slowly she got stronger. ‘Come on baby,’ I would whisper to her. ‘You can do it.’ Three times the doctors told me she wouldn’t make it as chest infections ravaged her tiny body. But each time she hung on and each day we came back to the hospital, hoping she would make it through the day. I was studying to be a hairdresser at college, and I would sit with Chloe during the day and then do my studying at night when we came back from the hospital. Before we finally brought Chloe home, mum went out shopping and bought a pram and cot and all the baby clothes that I would need. When I brought Chloe home, friends couldn’t believe that I was coming home with a baby. When they had last seen me, I was a carefree teenager. Now I was suddenly a mum. Chloe was brought home still on oxygen and she still needs it now, although she needs it less and less. She is doing wonderfully well. She has a great appetite - she loves her food, especially chocolate pudding. She’s a bit behind in her development. She can sit up but she isn’t crawling yet. But she’s just had her first birthday - and its a day we never thought we would see. Lee and I aren’t planning on having any more children just at the moment. To have one baby just three hours after I found out I was pregnant was a big enough shock - and to have to watch my tiny daughter battling for her life for five months was an emotional rollercoaster. One day we’ll think about having a little brother or sister for her - but hopefully that won’t be for a few more years yet.