Grangemouth mum's wee 'miracle baby' born 13-weeks premature starts primary school

Emily McMahon (4), was just 2lbs 3oz when she arrived 13 weeks early on December 17, 2016 at 1.08pm in Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

It was not until a week before her due date – on March 9 – that mum Jillian Walton (38) was eventually able to bring her home from Forth Valley Royal Hospital.

Today the proud mum will be standing with dad Chris McMahon (36) watching their daughter head into Moray Primary School as schools return from the summer break.

Jillian said: “It’s gone by so quickly – I can’t believe how far she has come from that wee baby.

"She’s really excited about it, but I don’t think she understands how special it is that she is starting school.”

Jillian knows how lucky her wee girl was – and what a tough fighter she is.

Back in 2016, Jillian, an orthopaedic nurse in the hospital where her daughter was born, started to sense something was not right when she felt pains in her stomach.

She initially thought it was something she had eaten.

But eventually at 5:00am she went to Forth Valley Royal Hospital, where it was discovered she was in labour and, after further tests, she was transferred to Glasgow.

After five hours in labour Emily was born.

Jillian said: “She was tiny, we’ve got her wee hat that she first wore and you could put a wee satsuma orange in it. You see so many babies and because they are all hooked up to alarms which go off and you think, ‘oh my God’ but she’s fought through."

Emily finally came home when was three months old to be with her mum and older brother Declan, who turns 13 on Thursday and is heading back to Graeme High School.

At that stage she was a healthy 8lbs 11oz, but was still on oxygen to help develop her lungs and, as if everything else was not enough, had to fight through an ear infection

Jillian said: “She’s a strong baby. She’s a wee star – a wee miracle that’s what we call her.”

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