A "miracle" baby who was born at 23 weeks and was the size of a "biro pen" has finally been able to go home.
Sarah Chialton, from Litherland, was 23 weeks pregnant when her son Lucas Chialton-Helliar was born on October 16 last year.
The 30-year-old said her pregnancy was "very normal", but when she was in work one day she noticed a small amount of "unusual discharge".
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Speaking to the ECHO, Sarah said: "I was 23 weeks pregnant and I was in work and I noticed - because I am a nurse myself - I noticed a little bit of unusual discharge.
"So I rang the Liverpool Women's Hospital up and they told me to come in to get examined.
"They thought it was down to a water infection at the time. So I went into the Women's, got examined and they said I was 2cm dilatated."
Sarah was going into early labour and doctors told her that if her baby was to survive delivery, there was only a 15% survival rate in the first few weeks of his life.
The mum added: "That was at 23 weeks and one day, so they were going through scenarios with me.
"They said a 23 week baby doesn't have a good outcome basically.
"Doctors were saying it was a 15% chance of survival in the first couple of weeks if the baby was to survive delivery."
Lucas came into the world weighing 1lb 3oz at 23 weeks and four days and Sarah said he was the size of a "biro pen".
The baby boy went through a lot during his 142 day stay in hospital, including six different infections, sepsis, two collapsed lungs and several blood transfusions.
Lucas was discharged from Liverpool Women's Hospital on Sunday, March 6, when he was four months old.
Sarah and her family described Lucas as a "miracle" and the 30-year-old wanted to thank staff at the neonatal unit at Liverpool Women's Hospital.
She said: "I want to praise the neonatal unit at the Women's because they have just been amazing through this.
"The nurses, the doctors have all been amazing."
Sarah said her placenta was sent off for tests to look into why she went into early labour but the results left doctors unsure as to why she did.
The 30-year-old said Lucas is now doing "really well" since being discharged from hospital at the weekend and is currently on home oxygen. He now weighs 8lbs.
She said: "Lucas is doing well, really well. He's taking feeds and bottles as well.
"He's brilliant, he's doing really well."
Sarah said she wanted to share her story to thank staff at Liverpool Women's Hospital and to help other mums who might be going through something similar.
The nurse said she wanted mums "going through the same thing" to know "there is 'light at the end of it.
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