The little fighter who beat the odds! Born at 24 weeks and smaller than a pack of wipes, UK's tiniest baby goes home
Video report by ITV News Correspondent Rupert Evelyn
Born at 24 weeks, she was smaller than a pack of baby wipes and weighed just 12 ounces - making her the tiniest baby to be born in the UK for 16 years.
Given just a five per cent chance of survival, Isabella Evans had hands smaller than 1p coins but the premature girl refused to give up fighting.
Six months later she has defied the medical odds and is finally home in the arms of her overjoyed parents, Kym Brown and Ryan Evans.
Isabella from Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire, was born at 24 weeks which is currently the abortion time limit in the UK. She weighed less than a can of fizzy drink.
Ms Brown was forced to have an emergency caesarean after doctors discovered Isabella's heart rate had dropped and she had stopped growing at 21 weeks.
It was then that doctors warned her and her partner to expect the worst.
Speaking to ITV News, Ms Brown said: ''I think that was the first time that we really heard that she might not make it. The whole time we expected her to be coming early, everything's going to be perfect until they said then if they bring her over to us for a cuddle, she hasn't made it. That's when it hit that she might not.''
Isabella underwent two life-saving operations, including surgery for a ruptured bowel at just three weeks old.
Isabella's proud parents have described Isabella as ''their little fighter'' and said despite a challenging start, "she's going to be just like any other normal child".
Mr Evans told ITV News: ''They always tell you it's a rollercoaster but I think we went through the whole theme park with her [Isabella]. She took us everywhere. There are no words really and even when they tell you that at the beginning, it doesn't sink in until you go through it and that's when you really realise the journey that you're on.''
Isabella still has to take oxygen at the moment but the family hope she'll be able to live without the support by the end of the year.
For the first week of her life, Isabella's parents could only hold their daughter in blankets for five minutes at a time. It was only after that they could have their first skin-to-skin contact.
Isabella still has to take oxygen at the moment but the family hope she'll be able to live without the support by the end of the year.
Now at home with her family in the Tewkesbury village, Isabella's parents are eternally grateful for the care and support she received from the NHS and its neonatal team.
Mr Evans said: ''There are no words for the gratitude I have. They have saved my daughter's life countless times and I'd be nothing without her.''