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Miracle baby Cohan Williams was expected to be stillborn when his mum Alex was taken ill at 24 weeks into her pregnancy. When medics could not find Cohan's heartbeat, devastated Alex was told to expect the worse.
Speaking to her local newspaper, Alex said she can't believe her son is now a year old and fit and healthy.
"I thought he was a child I would never be able to hold in my arms," she said, "We couldn't have expected this. He's a very special baby."
Alex explained how she was not even allowed to hold her son for the first two weeks of his life, and even when he was strong enough to be cuddled, she was too scared to do so.
Little Cohan weighted just 1lb 11oz when he was born at the Special Care Baby Unit in Singleton Hospital in Swansea. His mum had been moved there from the Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil to Swansea, expecting her baby born to be born dead.
Her doctors were said to be 'shocked' when he was delivered breathing, and quickly began treating him to fully resuscitate him and regulate his heartbeat.
Cohan was in intensive care for five months for conditions ranging from a fungal infection to a blood clot on his brain.
Although he is still small for his age, his 21-year-old mum is delighted with his progress.
"They called him a miracle baby," she said, "They couldn't find any trace of a heartbeat. They gave him no chance at all."
"When they delivered him, everyone was shocked that he was breathing. No-one was prepared for it. But even then, they gave him little chance to survive."
Alex said said her little boy's first birthday 'brought back a lot of memories' but that she and her family were 'all so happy to see him turn one'.
"It is hard to explain. What I went through, with the birth and waiting to find out whether Cohan would live – it was the most horrifying and upsetting time of my life," Alex explained, "But now, to think he has seen his first birthday after all that happened makes me so happy."
Aw, Cohan really is a miracle baby - what a lovely story!
Triumph over tragedy
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