Gorgeous Elsie Dutton beams as she cuddles into her loving family as she was brought home from hospital for the first time. But the family's cuddles have extra special significance for Elsie - because hugs from mum Amy Dutton, 33, literally saved her life.
Elsie was born at just 23 weeks and four days gestation - below the legal limit for abortion, and wasn't expected to survive, after her twin passed away when Amy went into labour after surgery to separate them. Medics warned the family that there was a chance that Elsie wouldn't survive - and Amy, along with husband Scott and eldest son Charlie, seven, could do nothing but hope and pray she would survive.
But doctors had a trick up their sleeve - and advised Amy that Elsie's best chance of survival was having cuddles with her mum. Medics explained that the best way for Elsie's heartbeat to grow stronger and start to regulate itself was by being close to her mother's heartbeat, to simulate being in the womb.
