He was born weighing just 2lbs 4oz and in a 'flat' condition, essentially he wasn't breathing. The doctors managed to revive and intubate him after several attempts and put him on a ventilator.

The first 12 hours were critical as he was very poorly on 100% oxygen but not responding. He was put on high frequency ventilation and given nitric oxide, which stabilised him.

Daniel came off ventilation onto CPAP and finally just supplementary oxygen support. After his very rocky start to life he was well enough to be transported to our local hospital, Burnley General, by ambulance at just 11 days old.

Daniel's main stay in neo-natal began when he reached Burnley on 19 November. Although he had made amazing progress during his time at Hope Hospital, he was still very small and we were warned to expect a rollercoaster ride as he slowly grew stronger in NICU.

Things took a downturn after just one week at Burnley as he was starting to struggle breathing and was moved back into intensive care. He was suffering oedema and had a course of antibiotics.

In December he became quite anemic and needed a blood transfusion, which soon picked him back up again. Just before his first Christmas he was moved out of intensive care, though he picked up his first cold. He was still being tube fed and on oxygen support at 0.1-0.3 l/min via nasal cannula.

Joanne had been trying to breastfeed for a few weeks but he wasn't latching on properly being so small, though he was gaining weight, so his naso-gastric tube was finally removed.

During January we got to room in a few times in the parents room within NICU. Spending our first night with Daniel was quite daunting, even though the nursing staff were just around the corner, but we started to adjust to our new way of life.

Eventually Daniel was strong enough to come home on 3 February 2008 after 12 weeks in neo-natal care. He was (and still is) on oxygen support having being diagnosed with chronic lung disease, and weighed 2.4kg (5lbs 4oz).