I loved being pregnant, although it was far from easy. The problems started at about 9 weeks when I haemorrhaged badly because of a 30mm haematoma of the uterus. At 23 weeks we were on holiday in Scotland when I felt unwell, which we wrote off as just being pregnant! It was 13th September when I went to my local centre for a routine check and my blood pressure was 185/118 with 3 pluses of protein in my urine - wrong! It was established at this point that I had pre-eclampsia.

Ambulances are not comfortable, but that was how I travelled to the RUH and was hooked up to drips and catheters, feeling very confused and scared. My two midwives were very caring, and clearly explained everything that was happening; they made it clear that the baby wouldn't go to term. Two days later I felt slightly better and got up to have a shower, but was too weak to stand unaided. At 10.45am I started to have eclampsic fits, and Lyra was born at 11.31 by emergency Caesarian section under general anaesthetic.

By the time I came round, Lyra was already in NICU and my first sight of her was a photograph, wrapped in 'bubble wrap' and wearing a pink hat. 'Why a pink hat?' I thought, 'I was sure it would be a boy'. I still have the hat, which is a little bigger than an egg cosy! Lyra weighed 717gms (1lb 9oz) and was 3 months premature. Her chances of survival were 75%. I felt devastated, and quite negative. I burst into tears at my first sight of her because I was so shocked and horrified.

However, Lyra never gave up, and never got ill apart from a bit of jaundice and conjunctivitis. She was only incubated for 5 days, and breathed unaided very early on. What a star! I started to adore her; her father is besotted!

The staff of NICU were simply wonderful. They taught me to express my milk, to feed her and generally look after her. I don't know how the NICU nurses do it, but they give unconditional love to all their babies, and support to the families. There aren't enough good words to describe their professionalism. Their care is predictive rather than reactive, which is most comforting. No risks are taken and no corners cut with 'their babies'.

NICU is a strange environment, always very busy and very warm but it became the most important place in the world for a while. And Lyra? She was, and is, amazing. She finally came home at 2.5 months, 3 weeks before her due date, weighing 4lb 2oz. In the following months we made two unscheduled trips to the children's ward with infections, but she beat them. She is now 20 months, small for her age but trotting around and into everything. Lyra is the star of this story.