Miracle baby gets to spend her first Christmas at home

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Christmas is a time for miracles.

After being told that her newborn daughter only had 48 hours to live, a young mom is thrilled that the baby, now 7-months-old, will be spending Christmas at home. After being born premature, the infant was diagnosed with sepsis at just 2-weeks-old.

Doctor's originally gave Isabella-Jean Woodhouse a 50 percent chance of surviving her first 48 hours. (SWNS)

Shannon Woodhouse gave birth to her daughter, Isabella-Jean, four months early, SWNS reports. The baby was reportedly small enough to fit into her mom’s hand and her heartbeat was visible through her semi-transparent skin.

She was also born with a hole in her heart.

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“She is a battler and she is definitely our miracle baby,” the 23-year-old mother said. “She's still a bit small for her age and she is on medication for her heart, but she is home and that is the main thing. We feel very lucky to have her home, we are super proud of her. She just didn't give up, she was determined to make it through everything.”

Her parents couldn’t even touch their daughter for the first week and doctors told them that there was a 50 percent chance that Isabella wouldn’t survive the first 48 hours.

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Woodhouse recounted the harrowing experience of her daughter’s birth, saying, “When I came round properly, I looked beside me and there was no baby. I was in a totally different unit and didn't know what had happened to her. There are so many things that go through your head. I just thought what sort of mother does that make me if I can't be with her while she takes her last breath?"

Isabella, who survived an emergency operation on the hole in her heart, now weighs 8 pounds and was able to go home just in time for the holidays.

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“It was a simple operation,” Shannon said, “but it felt like brain surgery to me. She was so small and we didn't know if she would make it. Every bump in the road, I thought that it was the last we would see of her.”