Baby Evelie was born without a heartbeat. When doctors spent EIGHT minutes trying to, unsuccessfully, resuscitate her – her heartbroken parents were, naturally, devastated.

 

But then, miraculously and without obvious reason, the little girl’s heart starting beating on its own – and she’s since gone on to make remarkable progress.

 

Bethanie Millar was rushed to her maternity hospital last winter after her waters broke and they were green.

 

Midwives could only detect a very faint heartbeat, and Bethanie was transferred to a specialist hospital while her mum stayed behind.

 

 

But by the time she got there, Evelie didn't have a heartbeat and Bethanie needed an emergency C-section.

 

Bethanie, 21 and from Shropshire in the English West Midlands, explains: "I was awake when doctors told me they couldn't detect a heartbeat, I was so scared.

 

"I then went straight into an emergency C-section, it all happened so fast.

 

"When I came round, my mum and sister were by my bed crying. I knew something bad had happened, but I was so out of it I thought I was still pregnant."

 

Weighing 8lbs 1oz, Evelie was born on November 20, 2015 without a heartbeat, and doctors spent a heart-wrenching eight minutes trying to resuscitate the newborn.

 

 

Just about to cease resuscitation efforts, Evelie's heart suddenly started beating on its own.

 

However, as Bethanie, who also has a two-and-a-half-year daughter Mila-Beau, with partner Jake Evans, remembers: "When they said her heart starting beating on its own I couldn't believe it.

 

"I thought that was it, that everything would be fine, but it was far from over. I couldn't even see her, she had to be transferred to Stoke-on-Trent and I wasn't allowed to go with her."

 

Evelie spent nearly three months in hospital; her parents were told she might not make it.

 

Bethanie adds: "Doctors said she'd be a vegetable,” continuing: "They said she wouldn't be able to see, hear or move."

 

 

But, as the young mother, reveals, things then began to look up: "They did an MRI scan, and she just started to improve. "It's like she's defied everything.”

  

After 84 agonising days in hospital, delighted Bethanie brought her baby home. "She really is amazing,” she says. "I still look at her now and just cry."

 

The little girl, now nine months, sits up already and even clapped her hands before she was supposed to.

 

And although her family admit that they won't know the extent of the damage, if any, until she's two years old, they say she is “absolutely incredible”.

 

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