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But the baby - who weighed just 14 ounces at birth - has won her battle.

Five and a half months later she is at home with her family. It is thought that April is one of the smallest babies in the country to have survived.

During her first few weeks in hospital - much of which was spent in intensive care - little April suffered a catalogue of life-threatening problems.

It took days to get her to swallow just half a millilitre of milk, she also suffered three breaks in her right arm, a broken leg and jaundice before contracting the potentially deadly hospital superbug MRSA in her eye.

The tiny baby's lungs had also deflated and she had kidney problems which caused vital nutrients to leak into her blood.

She was also diagnosed as having metabolic bone disease which meant her tiny bones had not properly formed.

Determined not to be beaten, April bravely battled through all her illnesses, much to the amazement of doctors at Southampton's Princess Anne Hospital.

Now a healthy 6lb 11oz - just under the average weight of a newborn baby - April is at home with her proud parents Dawn and Martin Orman and her big brothers Alex, eight, and five-year-old Pierce.

Speaking from the family home in Warwick Road, Totton, Dawn, 35, said: "She's just amazing, she has done so well. She really is our little miracle."

April was born 12 weeks premature, at 28 weeks, on January 13 by emergency Caesarean.

Consultants had found that April was in distress because of problems with the blood flow between her and the placenta.

Dawn, who has a condition called Factor V Leiden which means her blood is prone to clotting, had been forced to take aspirin daily throughout her pregnancy as well as injecting a blood-thinning drug.

She had already been forced to terminate a baby girl, Emily Anne, after 22 weeks last year because of the problems created by her condition.

Doctors reassured her and 35-year-old husband Martin that it would be safe to proceed with another pregnancy as long as Dawn took the daily dose of drugs.

Dawn said: "The aspirin was easy but the self-injecting into my stomach was frightening at first. I knew I had to do it so I just psyched myself up and it became another daily task."

Dawn remembers the minutes that seemed like an eternity as April was born and rushed away by nurses as they tried to stabilise her.

"I was scared for her and when they finally pushed her past in an incubator all I could see was a big bundle of towels," recalled Dawn.

Dawn was not able to see her daughter until she had recovered from the drugs and was able to walk on her own.

After eight days in hospital Dawn was allowed to go home where she juggled her time between Alex and Pierce and their schooling as well as visiting her baby in hospital.

On April 30 she was finally making enough progress to be allowed home and doctors are hopeful she will grow to be a normal child.

Dawn said: "She got through it in the end. Her brothers love her and give her regular kisses and cuddles. She's just gorgeous."

Martin added: "The day before she was born I was told by the consultant that she had less than five per cent chance of survival.

"I was told to go home and prepare to look after my wife. I'm just so delighted that she's home with us and she's healthy."

A spokeswoman for the Princess Anne Hospital said: "We certainly believe she is one of the smallest ever babies to have been born and survived here.

"She was particularly small for that period of gestation. We understand she is doing very well, which is terrific."