At just 28 weeks pregnant, Lisa Jackson hadn’t really begun to prepare for life as a mother.

Suddenly, due to complications, she found herself in hospital – and was told she wouldn’t be going home without a baby.

Emotions ran high as the reality of having a very early baby started to hit her and husband Phil.

Doctors tried everything to delay the inevitable, knowing each day would give the tiny life a better chance of survival.

Lisa’s own life was also at risk.

April Eleanor Rose was eventually born in Middlesbrough almost two weeks later, weighing just 2lb 5oz.

Suffering from septicemia, she had to be resuscitated and taken into neonatal intensive care.

After a brief glimpse of her daughter, Lisa was taken back to critical care with Phil by her side.

But tiny April was born ready to fight. She amazed doctors with her progress and 10 weeks on, the couple, from Clifton, near Penrith, are finally starting to enjoy life as new parents.

After coming home on December 12, April has continued to thrive and now weighs 6lb.

She has bonded with big sister Eve, eight, and enjoyed her first Christmas surrounded by friends and family. 

It is only now, looking back, that Lisa and Phil are really coming to terms with what they have all been through.

Lisa, 35, a self-employed marketing consultant, said it was a routine blood pressure check that sent alarm bells ringing.

The midwife in Penrith sent her to Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary, where her feet, hands and face started swelling up.

After more tests they broke the news she was suffering extreme pre-eclampsia, a condition caused by the placenta not developing properly and potentially serious for both mother and baby.

“They basically said I wouldn’t be going home until I’d had the baby. I was in shock. We weren’t ready. We’d bought a pram but nothing else and I hadn’t even thought about maternity leave. I still had a business to run,” said Lisa.

Doctors tried to use medication to bring her blood pressure down, with the hope of getting to 34 weeks when the risk to the baby would be much lower. But as her blood pressure continued to rise, Lisa was told they were transferring her by ambulance to a specialist hospital with a neonatal intensive care unit ready for delivery.

Arriving in Stockton, her blood pressure finally began to stabilise and she was allowed to return to Carlisle.

But after a temporary reprieve, the problems returned and this time she was rushed to Middlesbrough’s James Cook Hospital. It was a terrifying time for the couple. April was eventually delivered on October 24 by emergency caesarean section. 

“I just remember feeling really ill. There were about 10 people in the room, including the neonatal team. It was really scary. I was lying there while everything went on behind a screen,” said Lisa.

“All of a sudden we heard her cry, which we weren’t expecting. They told us she was a girl, we saw her then she was whisked away.

“I can’t really remember much after that.”

Phil, 37, a financial planner at Armstrong Watson, added: “The worst part for me was seeing the size of her head. She was just a dot.”

Lisa was so poorly she couldn’t see April again until the next day.

“She was in an incubator. It felt really surreal putting my hand in. She was just a tiny bag of skin and bones,” said Lisa.

Despite a rocky start, April progressed well. She was moved from intensive care to high dependency, then on to special care.

Lisa spent 10 days in hospital herself as doctors struggled to get her blood pressure back to normal. It was only afterwards she realised how big the risk had been to her own life.

The couple then stayed in a flat next to the unit until April was well enough to be moved to special care in Carlisle.

Finally she was able to breathe for herself and the couple were able to take her home. “When we walked through that door with her it was like a huge weight had been lifted. I broke down and cried,” said Lisa.

“It was only then that I really started to feel like me again. It was really tough, going through all that miles from home, not being able to properly cuddle my baby.

“But she was born a fighter. She’s done everything we could have asked of her. I call her my little flower.”

Lisa and Phil have documented April’s journey through a blog, which they hope will help other couples with premature babies.

The couple thanked all of the hospital staff who looked after them, as well as family, friends and work colleagues for their support throughout such a difficult time. 

They also paid tribute to Lisa’s grandmother Minnie Jackson, who died on Boxing Day at the age of 101.