A Scots mum says her 2lb baby was just hours from being stillborn until 'angel' doctors stepped in and saved her life.
Tashana Johnston, 25, gave birth to baby daughter Ruby at 31 weeks after doctors discovered she wasn't growing.
The Ayr mum was rushed to Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock for an emergency C-section after scans showed Ruby was not getting any nutrition from the placenta.
She now says the doctor's decision to operate there and then saved her baby girl's life.
Speaking to the Record she said: "Ruby wasn't growing at all and when I went for a scan just after 30 weeks, the doctor just looked and said to me 'Ok, today's the day' and I was taken away for surgery.
"If she hadn't done that we could have had a very different outcome. Ruby could have been stillborn if they had left it even a few hours longer."
At 20 weeks, Tashana's scan showed her baby was suffering from an ectopic heartbeat.
The condition causes an irregular heartbeat, with the baby's heart either skipping a beat or adding an extra beat.
As a precaution, she was booked in for scans every two weeks to monitor her baby's condition.
But at her 28 week scan Tashana and her fiancé Jacques Cuthbert, 24, were left devastated when doctors said they were concerned her baby was not growing in the womb.
Full of worry, the expectant mum was sent home and two weeks later, her 30 week scan showed her baby had stopped growing.
Tashana said: "They decided to keep me in for four days to monitor the baby then I was allowed home and just had to return for scans every two days. It was a really worrying time."
On July 15, 2019, when Tashana returned for a check-up scan a doctor immediately realised something was very wrong.
She said: "She told me they had to get the baby out there and then or she wouldn't survive.
"I was whisked away to theatre and moments later Ruby was born.
"She was so small and had to be hooked up to oxygen immediately."
After an anxious two-day wait, Ruby began breathing on her own.
The newborn was kept in the neo-natal unit for 51 days before she was strong enough to go home.
Mum Tashana says Ruby, who is now almost 18 months old, has been thriving every day since.
She said: "She fought every day for life and she was so strong. Looking at her now you would never know she had such a difficult start in life.
"She was just a little girl who was determined to be here.
"We will never stop being grateful to the doctors and medical staff."
