MOTHERING Sunday was extra special for Kathryn Whittle -- she wasn't due to celebrate it until 2002 but tiny Elle-Mai made an early appearance.

Kathryn was only 24 weeks pregnant when her waters broke and she was rushed into Burnley General Hospital. Four days later, after just 30 minutes in labour, little Elle-Mai was born.

Every new mum longs to hold and cuddle their bundle of joy but Elle-Mai weighed just 1lb 5.5oz and was only nine inches long. She was immediately put on a ventilator in an incubator in the neonatal intensive care unit.

She may be a month old but Kathryn, who lives off Burnley Road, Colne, has only been able to cuddle her daughter three times.

She said: "The first time I was petrified because she was attached to so many tubes and wires and I was in tears. Now it is wonderful.

"They have taken her off the ventilator a few times and she has breathed on her own, but she gets tired very quickly and has to be put back on."

Kathryn, 21, who used to work at Great Universal Stores, in Burnley, and her partner Ian Laithwaite, 28, who works at Robert McBrides, in Burnley, had been expecting their daughter to arrive on June 17.

Kathryn said: "When she was born they gave her a 30 to 40 per cent chance of surviving but she is a fighter.

"It was so scary, the fact they had given her such a low chance of surviving."

Ella-Mai now weighs 1lb 9oz and Kathryn and Ian spend as much time at they can at the hospital waiting for her to gain enough weight to be able to go home.

They hadn't got the nursery finished when she arrived but as it's likely to be June before she can leave the unit by then they will have everything ready.