A MUM has credited a daytime TV show for saving the life of her ‘miracle’ baby daughter.

Shelley Wilkinson, 34, had suffered the heartbreak of giving birth to two stillborn daughters when she unexpectedly fell pregnant again.

She reacted with fear and trepidation, but her husband Andrew, 34, remembered seeing an item on television show This Morning describing an operation performed in Liverpool which could possibly remedy her medical problems.

Shelley, who works as a care assistant at Fosterfields Day Care in Eaves Lane, Chorley said: “I had been diagnosed with having a weak cervix, losing both my daughters, Chloe and Olivia, at 22 weeks due to the problem.

“When I fell pregnant again we had mixed feelings as it was very likely to happen again.

“But Andrew remembered seeing something on This Morning about a procedure that could help and I asked for a referral to Liverpool Women’s Hospital.”

Things then moved very quickly for Shelley as she had a consultation at the hospital on a Monday morning and by Wednesday was going under the knife for a transabdominal cervical cerclage, a stitching procedure which has been given to less than 150 women in the region.

Shelley said: “It was a bit of a whirlwind but after talking to the consultant I knew it would give my baby the best chance.

“It was even more delicate because I was eight weeks gone and ideally the operation should happen before pregnancy.

“I was given general anaesthetic and was under for 90 minutes.”

The procedure was a success and after resting through the remainder of her pregnancy, Shelley and Andrew’s dreams came true when little Lyla was born at the Liverpool hospital on August 23.

They have now been taken her home, where she was introduced to big brother, six-year-old Josh.

“She’s just perfect, my little miracle,” said Shelley.

“I can’t describe what it was like to hold her for the first time. Andrew and I have been through a lot of despair losing two babies and we just felt joyful to have Lyla with us, healthy and gorgeous.

“The help and support we’ve had from Liverpool Women’s Hospital and the midwives in Chorley have been brilliant and I’d just like to say to expectant mothers who experience problems that help is out there.

“It just took us a bit of luck to find it.”