Freya McCall was born in Glasgow weighing just 1lb 9oz

With her mischievous chuckle and gregarious personality, the little girl is the light of her parent’s lives.

But Freya - who turns four-and-a-half on Christmas Eve - arrived in the world 13 weeks early weighing just 1lb 9oz.

Her mum and dad, Shona and Graeme, had wanted a surprise but asked doctors to tell them if the baby was a boy or a girl so they could choose a name in case she didn’t survive.

Freya, though, was a little fighter and has overcome everything thrown at her.

Shona said: “She is amazing. She has hit all her milestones and now she is just a wee girl who loves life and is full of fun.

“She’s an only child and she’s got us wrapped round her finger - she’s probably a little spoiled after everything she went through.”

Shona’s pregnancy was normal until the 20 week scan when it was discovered the baby was measuring slightly small.

A follow up scan a couple of weeks later showed Freya’s growth wasn’t catching up with where it should be and so Shona had an amniocentesis test to check there were no congenital issues.

Graeme said: “The tests were fine and there was no clear idea why this was happening but we were told, ‘If you get to 37 weeks you’ll be doing well,’ so that obviously put the frighteners on us big time.”

Shona’s due date was September 21 but in the June she began to feel unwell and so the couple went to hospital.

Further scans indicated the baby was likely to come that week and Shona was told she would have to stay in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Maternity Unit.

On the Friday, June 24, the couple was told their daughter would have to be delivered by Caesarian section at just 27 weeks and two days.

Graeme said: “Freya had been born but we didn’t hear anything. Usually babies come out and you hear them crying.

“There was nothing for probably only a few seconds, but it felt like a good few minutes.

“Then we heard the wee cry and it was like a little kitten trying to meow.”

Freya was taken straight to the neo-natal unit to be placed on a ventilator.

Graeme was able to go with his daughter but it would be several hours before Shona had the chance to meet her.

Shona, a radiologist at the Beatson cancer hospital, said: “She was teeny tiny. Really, really tiny. She almost didn't look like a baby to me.

“You have an idea in your head about what a little newborn baby looks like but premie babies don’t look like that.

“She wasn’t meant to come out for another 12 weeks so her skin was translucent and she was just like little break stick arms and legs.

“She was our baby and we fell in love with her but she didn’t look like what you think a little newborn baby should look like. She was hooked up to all these machines.

“She had her little beanie hat on and the cannula coming out of her arm.”

Graeme added: “I got to see her and spend some time with her. Looking at this tiny little pink smooshy thing, I was just like, ‘wow’.

“It was amazing to see such a tiny thing alive. She was a little pink ball of amazingness.”

Freya would need 110 days in intensive care (NICU) and special care (SCBU) with treatment for a variety of health problems affecting her lungs, heart and eyes.

She was on varying levels of oxygen support to help her lungs, needed treatment for a duct in her heart and surgery for two hernias.

The little girl also had retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a potentially blinding eye disorder, which thankfully repaired itself over time.

For her parents, having a baby in hospital was exhausting - especially as the couple had moved house earlier in the year and Graeme had just started a new job

Shona said: “It was just the hardest time in your life thinking, ‘How am I going to get through this?’ but somehow you do you find strength because you’ve got to.

“I was the crier - I cried every day, every day.

“But there was one really nice doctor who just said, ‘Shona you have to give her time,’ and he was right.

“They are not meant to be out yet so you are just seeing them develop the way they would have inside you.

“I would get impatient. I’d get obsessed by tiny, tiny little things. But that was the best advice, just to have patience.”

Graeme, 39, added: “I would go to work, Shona would go to the hospital with her mum and she’d be there all day.

“I would go straight from work to the hospital, grab a bite to eat, get home and basically pass out and then rinse and repeat for next time.

“The house was just somewhere we slept.”

With four months spent every day at the hospital, the family said the staff became friends, with one nurse in particular who they keep in touch with and share photos of Freya.

Shona said the doctors and nurses gave so much support, encouragement and reassurance that it really eased the situation.

But it was still a tough time for the family. The 44-year-old added: “It’s not natural. When you have a baby it’s supposed to be the best time. You’re meant to bring her home.

“Even when she got out of hospital we had to be so so careful with her because she got out in winter and had to have injections every couple of weeks to protect against respiratory virus.

“But at the same time we were lucky because she got through it and she’s still with us and there are other parents who aren’t so lucky.”

Due to her prematurity, Freya has chronic lung disease but it is unknown whether this will cause serious long term problems.

She also lives with autoimmune neutropenia, which her mum says is “just bad luck” and not connected to her being born early.

The condition means Shona and Graeme must take her straight to hospital for antibiotics if she develops a fever, and she has been in hospital three times this year.

The family say they will be “forever grateful” to the medics who helped their daughter.

Freya’s uncle ran 110 miles to raise money for Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity as a thank you.

Shona Cardle, Chief Executive of the charity, said: “It is incredibly special to hear how far Freya has come and we’d like to thank the McCall family for their continued support for Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity.

“This Christmas will be very difficult for children in hospital and their families.

“Our charity-funded services such as the play programme, bereavement support and emergency family support depend entirely on donations.

“The public have shown such tremendous generosity during this challenging year, and we hope that we can continue to count on this invaluable support over the festive period.”

Freya is now excitedly looking forward to Christmas and will next year be heading off to school.

Her mum added: “You think you will never forget it and never get over it but before you know it, they’re suddenly four-and-a-half.

“She’s just our wee hero, she’s everything.”

To donate to Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity’s Christmas Appeal see GlasgowChildrensHospitalCharity.org/donate