Three months into Catherine's pregnancy, doctors told the 27-year-old that her baby had died inside her.

Turning down surgical treatment to remove the baby, she spent a month carrying what she believed was a dead child until a check-up at Sunderland Royal Hospital revealed a mistake had been made and her baby was alive.

Six months after the devastating news, Leona-Lee Gray defied medics when she was born weighing a healthy 6lb 9oz.

And the Houghton couple say their new-born bundle of joy
– pictured – is all the more special because they thought they had lost her forever.

Kevin, 28, said: "The baby is just champion. She is healthy as anything. We were so happy when she was born. We love our kids to bits.

"But because we thought for a while that the baby had died it made the pregnancy a hundred times worse because of the stress. We are so protective of her."

The couple are urging other parents not to give up hope.

"A couple of years ago Catherine was told she had a miscarriage and we had that baby removed. Now we wonder if it could have been alive too," said Kevin.

"I would say to people 'don't give up, get a second opinion.' We want everything out in the open so people know it can happen."

A week after being born by emergency Caesarean at Sunderland Royal, Leona-Lee is back at home at Moore Crescent South, Houghton.

Dad says the new addition is the spitting image of big sister Chanelle, seven.

Brother Kane, four, is also excited by the new arrival.

After Catherine's three-month scan the couple were told they could choose drugs and surgical treatment to remove the baby. Now they say they dread to think what could have happened.

Kevin said: "When we went back to the hospital and they said the baby was alive we just broke down. We couldn't believe it. We worried about her all the time."

City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Trust has launched an inquiry into the matter.