THE family of a tiny baby girl born weighing just 1lb 2oz are set to celebrate the first birthday of their "little miracle."

Chloe Flannery was born on May 2 last year - three months prematurely.

And for parents, Michael and Julie, it was touch-and-go whether their daughter would survive the night.

The couple of Grane Road, Haslingden, had to wait anxiously next to Chloe's incubator while she was put on oxygen to help her breathe, and taken from one specialist hospital to another.

Chloe was one of just 1,800 babies - less than one percent - born in England every year who weigh less than 1,000gm, or just over 2lbs. Julie, 34, said: "When she was born she would have fit in one hand. It was very traumatic, it was awful. I can't believe it now.

"She's very healthy. There's nothing wrong with her at all, just that she's tiny. But the doctors think that she will catch up eventually."

Michael, a staff nurse, and Julie, a housewife, also have a son, 11 year-old Matthew.

When Julie was six months pregnant, the couple were told that Chloe had stopped growing in the womb because of a problem with the placenta. When she was delivered by Caesarean section she was unable to breathe on her own and was put on oxygen.

Michael, 43, said: "When she was born we did really feel that it was a case of whether she was going to be born alive. For the first few weeks we always thought, is she going to pull through? It's unbelievable to think he was so small."

A spokeswoman for national premature birth charity, Bliss, said: "She is quite a miracle baby. She has done very well and luckily lots of babies like this do survive without problems. We hope this is the case with her as well."