A mum has to hold her baby son all day and move him every hour as he sleeps.
Charlene Stewart's baby Blake is paralysed from the waist down due to a rare neurological condition causing defects in the spinal cord.
The 34-year-old, from Fauldhouse, West Lothian, was told that terminating her pregnancy was an option when doctors discovered her unborn child had spina bifida at just 16 weeks.
The condition sees the spine and spinal cord not develop properly leaving a gap.
The tot was taken straight into emergency surgery when he was born in March to close his spinal canal, reports Edinburgh Live.
Charlene had to wait until the following day to see her little boy.
Blake had a further seven operations and spent three months in hospital until he was old enough to get a shunt fitted in his spine.
He relies on a catheter and must be moved regularly in his sleep to prevent bed sores.
The baby has the most severe type of spina bifida where the canal remains open along several vertebrae causing the cord and membranes to push out and form a sac in his back.
Charlene cares for Blake - who is now seven months old - with husband Robin, 43, and their five other kids.
She said the idea of having the pregnancy aborted "wasn't an option for us".
"We also had the choice to go to Belgium and have a surgery to go into my unborn baby's spine and close it up before it developed further," she explained.
However, she said this also "wasn't ideal" because at the time her home had been flooded and was covered in mould so they were living in hotels for 18 months.
"If anything went wrong with the surgery I would have been stuck in Belgium away from my kids so it didn't seem like the right option," she said.
"We knew that whatever challenges Blake faced when he was born, we would love him and do anything for him anyway so we continued with the pregnancy."
Blake went through many big surgeries in such a small amount of time and Charlene said after his first operation medics were convinced that her son would be paralysed.
None of her other children had any conditions so she could notice the changes in little Blake's developments.
He can't sit up, roll over or go to the toilet on his own and relies on a catheter.
Charlene explained: "Every hour at night I have to move him so he doesn’t get bed sores as he can't move himself.
"The muscles in his legs are only partly developed so he can kick his legs up but doesn’t have the strength to bring them down again."
She said she joined a support group for parents with kids with spina bifida and has heard about spinal stimulation which could give Blake a better chance of developing his muscles.
Some of the mums in the group have done it for six months to a year and have seen "huge progress", she explained.
Many of these children were told their kids would never walk or be active, and Charlene said the results "gave me a lot of hope".
She said it can be "exhausting" and hard on her other children while she holds Blake throughout the day.
"Bedtime is the only time I get a chance to clean or do anything round the house," she added.
The mum is now fundraising for the therapy that is available in the US and specialist vibrating plates and machines that would help with Blake's paralysis and movement.
You can find out more about the fundraising page and Little Blake's fundraiser here.
