Mother: I would take impotence drug

Geraldine Rees with daughter Cerys, now 3, who was premature. She weighed just 470g and spent 19 weeks in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Geraldine Rees says she would consider taking Viagra if faced with a re-run of her horror pregnancy with her daughter Cerys.

"There's lots of drugs that are primarily used for one thing that work for lots of other things too. Just because it is known as an impotence drug doesn't mean it's not going to work for other things. I personally would be able to put that to one side," said Mrs Rees.

Her daughter is a thriving 3-year-old whose good health belies her high-risk start in life.

Mrs Rees was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, which can contribute to fetal growth restriction, at just past the 25-week point in the pregnancy. Cerys was thought to have stopped growing around three weeks earlier.

"They sent me to National Women's [at Auckland City Hospital] and within 30 minutes of arriving there it was all on. I realised it was very serious and she was born four days later."

Cerys weighed 470g, less than a standard block of butter.

"She couldn't breathe on her own. She was ventilated for 20 days. We didn't get to hold her until she was 18 days old. She was too unstable.

"It was pretty scary."

Cerys spent 19 weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit. A scan revealed Cerys had had a bleed into her brain, but Mrs Rees said this didn't seem to have caused any difficulties for her daughter. She also had some lung scarring, but that hadn't given her any problems either.

Mrs Rees said Cerys was fortunate to be doing so well after what she had been through.