A mother who feared she may never be able to bear children is cradling a baby daughter of her own thanks to the help of a extraordinary "bionic birth".
After suffering gynaecological problems since her teens resulting in three miscarriages in a year, 29-year-old Rachel Backhouse was at an all time low.
The normally bubbly brunette was left heartbroken by the trauma of her losses, one of which was the devastating miscarriage of a 22-week-old boy, Alfie.
All but resigned to life without the child she so badly desired, Rachel turned to a procedure which sounded more at home in a sci-fi movie than a maternity ward.
She applied for pioneering surgery which involves a "ring of steel" being inserted into the womb to protect the child during pregnancy.
The "bionic band" was placed at the neck of Rachel's womb during surgery to prevent it opening while the baby developed.
She had undergone major gynaecological surgery as a 22-year-old, which saved her life, but ultimately led to her birth difficulties.
She went under the knife to have her band fitted, also knowing that a successful pregnancy could only end with a caesarean.
But all those factors soon became irrelevant when, in April this year, just 12 months after having the band fitted Rachel and her partner Mark Warburton, 46, found out they were to be parents.
And bouncing baby Evie Mai was born after 36 weeks and four days, weighing-in at 6lb 5oz.
The proud mum, from Runcorn, Cheshire, said the 9th December arrival of her 'bionic baby' was a Christmas miracle.
Rachel said: "I'd had gynaecological problems since the age of 14, so I always sensed that I might have difficulties having children.
"I had series of cone biopsies and then a colposcopy for dangerously abnormal cervical cells at the age of 22.
"That probably saved my life but it left me with a condition called severe cervical incompetency which meant it would be difficult for her to carry a baby to full term.
"I was just beginning to feel confident before we lost Alfie in 2008. He weighed 1lb 1oz and he was perfect, beautiful.
"I felt we had been robbed. The hospital chaplain held a little service for him and we had to have a funeral instead of bringing our son home.
"But I found new hope and the strength to keep on trying after attending an Open Night at Liverpool Women’s hospital a year later.
"I learned about the Miscarriage Clinic and the treatments that are not available in most other places, including the bionic band.
"I knew it was major surgery but it was my only hope. I had to have it."
During her pregnancy, Rachel was also diagnosed with a condition referred to as 'sticky blood'.
It meant that clots were likely to form in the umbilical cord starving her baby of vital nutrients, and that she was forced to take aspirin all during her pregnancy.
But fast forward to this Christmas and a healthy Evie Mai had made all of the pain and suffering worth it for Rachel and Mark, whose first family Christmas was made all the more special by the arrival of their little angel.
Rachel said: "This year I will going into the baby shops rather than walking past like I used to.
"It was a fluke that I heard about the treatment at Liverpool Women's, I just hope that more women struggling like I did get to hear about it too. We're so happy now."
Rachel was a self employed caterer before taking time off during her pregnancy. Her partner Mark, is a factory worker at the Jaguar plant in Liverpool.
Rachel added: "You never really let yourself believe it's going to happen. Although we knew we were expecting and that it would be different with the band, you never really let yourself relax, just in case the worst happens.
"I think that's the effect of having had a loss at 22-weeks, you're always going to be on tenterhooks. After I miscarried three times, I really thought that it was never going to happen for me.
"You start to believe that you're just one of those unlucky people, destined never to have a baby. There was a little bit of that in me, even when i was pregnant, I don't think you ever felt completely at ease.
"But I suppose that made Evie Mai all the more special when she came along. I know we've got her know, she's here and she's ours, our own Christmas miracle. She's the perfect little thing which, at my lowest, I really thought I'd never have in my life."
Rachel said, apart from the nervousness, she had a relatively normal pregnancy, one of the benefits of the steel rings robust protection. Rachel said: "The consultants told me that, as long as I wasn't going rock climbing or anything like that, I could carry on as normal.
"I took the asprin to keep my blood thin and also folic acid, but apart from that I just took it a little easier in my stride."
A spokeswoman for Liverpool Women's Hospital said: "The synthetic band, known as a trans-abdominal cerclage is like a band of steel which is placed at the neck of the womb.
"It has a ninety-five per cent success rate but is only carried out at a handful of centres in the UK."
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