After 18 miscarriages and years of dismay and agony, Angie Baker, 33, and her partner Lee Gibson, since 13 years were trying to have a child, before their daughter finally arrived weighing a healthy 7lb.

Raiya, who was born on December 9 last year, is today a healthy 10-week-old girl.

Gazing at Raiya yesterday, the mother said, "She's my little miracle. I can't explain how I feel. I'm overwhelmed. It seems like a dream".

Miss. Baker witnessed subsequent miscarriages, one after another, since she was 20, between five and eight weeks after conception.

However, the breakthrough emerged after the mother of her best friend learnt about Dr. Hassan Shehata, a specialist in treating multiple miscarriages, and his work at Epsom and St. Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, from a newspaper article.

A specialist test, available only at Epsom, in Liverpool and in Chicago in the United States, revealed she was suffering from a fairly common problem, thought to affect about 15% of women.

It is revealed that 20% women will have a miscarriage, one in 25 will have two, one in 100 will have three, one in 600 will have four and one in 15,000 will have five.