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We have two children - a girl aged 9 who has severe cerebral palsy - and a boy who's nearly 6 and a normal, bright, healthy, active child. Our daughter was born after a difficult labor which was induced due to me having pre-eclampsia. Our son was born by planned caesarean section - albeit earlier than intended - again due to pre-eclampsia.

I didn't get to hold either of my babies immediately after the birth. We had been looking forward to my husband cutting the cord when our first child was born and I had eagerly anticipated that first beautiful moment when she would be laid in my arms just as she'd come from my womb. But neither of these joys were ours. Because it was obvious to the medical staff straight away that she needed to be revived, she was whipped off to receive the attention she needed. I didn't even realize this was happening because I was in such a euphoric state, having just been told we had the baby girl we'd dreamed of for so long. Only my husband could see that something was wrong.

Later, after I'd showered and dressed, we went to the neonatal intensive care unit, where my baby had been taken for special observation and care overnight. At that stage there really was no reason for anybody to believe it wasn't just a short-term arrangement. So we went and met our little girl for the first time close to midnight, then I went back to my ward and fell almost immediately into a very deep sleep from sheer exhaustion and the continuing effect of the pethidine that was still in my system.

Next morning my husband and I both got to hold our baby. My husband took off his T-shirt and held her against his bare skin because I'd read that babies bond with you by recognizing your smell. I can remember how very cuddly she was from the first time I held her and how tightly she clutched onto one of my fingers. There is absolutely no doubt my husband and I were both already head over heels in love with this precious little girl. I will always remember when my husband arrived at the hospital that morning with a beautiful floral arrangement for me and how proud and elated he looked. He was just over the moon.

I often have thought what a mercy it was to us and to our little girl that we did fall so madly in love with her from the moment we set eyes on her. If ever a newborn baby needed her mummy and daddy to bond with her instantly it was this precious little angel whose brain had been so severely damaged in the course of her birth or as a result of what happened to

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