Miracle baby!

On Sunday the family celebrated the Christening of their youngest child, Daniel, who arrived in the world on Boxing Day weighing less than a bag of sugar.

Daniel only registered 1 pound 10 ounces (less than a kilogram) on the scales at Airedale General Hospital when he was delivered by Caesarean section three months premature.

For the first week of his life his parents had to endure an agonising wait after being told his chances of surviving were just 70-30.

Daniel was so frail he needed to be kept in an incubator in the hospital's Special Baby Care Unit for eight weeks.

But he proved to be a fighter, and three months after his birth, a fortnight before his actual due date, Mr and Mrs Burgess were finally allowed to bring him home to Ben Rhydding.

Now a thriving baby weighing 12 pounds, the family marked his recovery with a Christening at St John's Church on Sunday, followed by a party with family and friends.

Mrs Burgess said: "We were delighted to be able to do this after all Daniel has been through.

"He was so tiny when he was born, you can't get much smaller than that, and we didn't even know if he was going to survive.

"For a week or so afterwards we had no idea what would happen and we knew that was the critical time. It was all happening at the same time as Gordon Brown and his wife were waiting to see if their premature baby would make it, and it was an awful week.

"But by the end of it we knew his chances were improving and we were much happier. From then on he just started to gradually gain weight and make progress, so we became a little less worried each week."

The Burgesses originally wanted to hold Sunday's after-Christening celebration in April after bringing their son home, but as he still only weighed four pounds they were advised it was too soon.

Around 60 guests joined the congregation to see the ceremony on Sunday and then enjoy a party in Daniel's honour.

The service was conducted by the curate, the Reverend Richard Walker, and watched by the vicar, the Reverend Brian Gregory, a friend of the family who visited them several times in hospital.

Mrs Burgess said: "We know both the vicar and the curate quite well and Sunday felt like a new beginning - it feels now as though we've come through the other side of it all.

"At the beginning we were so worried and just didn't know what was going to happen, but now it's like we have turned a corner and we're not worried any more. Daniel's a strong, sturdy thing and he's doing fine.

"He is actually getting quite heavy now, which it is lovely to be able to say, and Sunday was a chance to share our happiness and relief with many of the people who have helped us through the last few months.

"Most of the congregation have known what's been happening from the beginning so it was lovely to be able to have him Christened there in front of everyone. It was a lovely day."

On one of Rev Gregory's trips to the hospital he took along his 16-year-old niece, Alice, who had also weighed less than two pounds when she was born.

He explained: "Alice was herself a very early baby and was born when she was only 25 weeks old, weighing no more than Daniel.

"So I invited her in to meet them both and to encourage Stephanie, to show her what a baby who was born so small can end up like. It was a nice visit and I think it helped - it helped Alice, too, because she wants to become a nurse!"

Rev Gregory, who officially received Daniel into the church around six weeks after he got out of hospital, said he hoped his remarkable story would inspire others.

He said: "We were all really delighted for him to get to this point because we have known how much the family has gone through from the beginning.

"Daniel's success is good news for everyone and it is encouraging for other mothers and fathers who might be facing difficulties with their children."

The six-month-old's early arrival means he shares a birthday with his six-year-old sister Frankie, so the family are preparing for plenty of expensive Christmases to come.

But it's an expense Mr and Mrs Burgess will be delighted to bear. "We just want to say thanks to everyone who helped in any way while Daniel was in hospital," said Mrs Burgess.

"He was in for three months and we were with him for much of the time. Having two other children, Frankie and Joe, we really needed a lot of help with baby-sitting and childcare and without it we couldn't have managed. So we'd like to say a huge 'thank you' to them all and especially to the staff at Airedale's Special Baby Care Unit, who were absolutely brilliant."

Consultant paediatrician at Airedale Hospital, Gary Savill said out of the 2,500 children born there each year only around ten were born as small as Daniel.

"It's not that common," he said, "but the important message is that the survival rate for babies born at this stage of development has clearly improved over the last 20 years. The crucial time for such babies is the first few days, when they are relying on the ventilator and their lungs are developing.

"Babies like Daniel tend to grow pretty well once they get home and in terms of weight they usually catch-up with other babies their age."