MIRACLE baby Emie Scott has defied the odds to reach her first birthday, despite weighing a tiny 1lb 11oz when she was born.

Nurses told parents Jo and Chris Scott, of Cricklade, that the youngster was not growing during pregnancy and was unlikely to survive, adding that the couple should consider an abortion.

“I said no, I’m not going down that route. If she dies nature will take its course, but I was not going to be the one who did it,” said 28-year-old Jo.

The expectant parents were also told there was an 85 per cent chance the baby would die in the 25th week of pregnancy.

But despite what the medics were saying Jo and Chris’s gut instinct was their little girl was going to be OK.

What puzzled Jo, a midwife at Great Western Hospital in Swindon, even more was that she could feel little Emie constantly wriggling inside her.

“We tell women that an active baby is a healthy baby. At the scans she was moving so much, even the nurses were surprised,” she added.

However, the pregnancy continued to be fraught with problems – a far cry from the textbook pregnancy with first daughter Ava, now aged four.

At 12 weeks they were told Emie was at high risk of having Down’s syndrome, but another test at a private clinic showed she was fine.

“It was at our 20 week scan they told us that Emie was really small for what she should be,” Jo said.

“They thought she had a condition called triploidy, which means they are incompatible with life.”

But Jo and Chris, 30, refused to give up hope and were having weekly scans, which later revealed Jo’s placenta was not attached properly, which is why Emie was not growing.

Then at 31 weeks, on October 5, the youngster had to be delivered prematurely after Jo developed HELLP syndrome, a rare liver and blood clotting disorder.

“She was tiny,” Jo said.

“She had to stay in hospital for two-and-a-half months and came home in time for Christmas.”

Now a year on, the cheeky bundle of joy has been celebrating her first birthday with friends and family.

Jo also saw the article the Adver wrote last week on Darra Roberts, two, who defied doctors as well.

On Saturday, Emie donned her prettiest pink dress and had a gathering at the Baby Sensory and Toddler Sense centre in Bridgemead with the other youngsters who she was in the baby care unit with.

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with her other than the fact she is tiny. I can’t believe she is a year old already,” Jo added.

“She’s so cheeky. She will do things and she will smile at you whilst she’s doing them because she knows she not supposed to be doing something.

“Ava is amazing too. I couldn’t have asked her to be a better big sister.”