JACK Liam Smith was born on Sunday evening at The Friarage Hospital in Northallerton. Weighing in at a very respectable 7lbs 2oz he is just one of hundreds of babies born at the busy North Yorkshire maternity unit every year.

Every baby is special to their parents but to Robert and Susan Smith from Aldbrough St John, near Richmond, the birth of their new son was little short of a miracle. Just 15 months ago the couple were trying to come to the terms with the sudden loss of their much-loved little girl, Hannah.

Born with a rare heart defect, three-year-old Hannah had no chance of surviving into adulthood without major open-heart surgery. Specialists at Leeds General Infirmary reassured the couple that the defect could probably be repaired, although they were warned that it would be a major operation.

Fearing the worst, but anxious to get the operation over, the Smiths hoped that the operation could take place during the summer of 1999. But a chronic shortage of paediatric intensive care beds at the regional heart centre meant the surgery was put back again and again.

Angered by the uncertainty of their situation Robert Smith, 37, approached The Northern Echo to complain about the lack of facilities at such an important centre - triggering a national debate about the capacity of child heart units.

Bosses at the Leeds centre promised that the problem of capacity would be tackled, but the difficulties in getting a guaranteed intensive care bed meant surgery was postponed until January 2000.

Unexpectedly, the family enjoyed an idyllic Christmas at their village home, trying to forget the ordeal that lay just ahead, and, finally, Hannah was admitted for the operation that should have allowed her to lead a normal life.

Sadly, when surgeons operated, they realised that her condition was far worse than they had imagined, and despite their best efforts, Hannah never regained consciousness. Her devastated parents were left with a yawning gap in their lives.

Once the immediate shock of Hannah's death receded, the couple began to long for another child - but the fear of going through it all again was a huge barrier. At the time Robert told The Northern Echo: "If we have to, we will adopt. We couldn't put a child through that."

Then, after a battery of exhaustive tests the couple were told that the chance of having another child with the same condition as Hannah was around three per cent - compared with one per cent in the general population.

In January, a year after Hannah's death, the couple revealed that 35-year-old Susan was pregnant again and expecting another baby this April. "It was a big decision to take but the gap was so big after losing Hannah, we had to take a chance," says Susan, who returned home on Tuesday night with their new baby.

Repeated scans and checks showed that the new baby was developing normally and there appeared to be no problem, but that didn't stop the couple worrying.

Three weeks ago Robert was briefly admitted to the Friarage when his old heart problem re-occurred. At the time, Susan joked that at least he would be in the same building when the new baby was born.

Ironically, when Susan began to have the long awaited contractions late last Saturday night Robert realised he was virtually out of petrol. "I had no fuel in the car. I had to go out and get petrol. It was exactly the same when Hannah was born," he says.

The new baby was born at 6.42pm on Sunday night. The fact that it was a boy took them completely by surprise, as they deliberately did not want to know the sex of the child in advance.

"I thought it was probably going to be another girl, but we are just pleased he is all right. It doesn't really matter," says Susan.

Jack is a favourite boy's name, but Liam was chosen because of the strong bond Hannah had with her cousin. "Hannah doted on Liam and he was born on a Sunday at the same time as Jack, so Liam it is," says Robert.

Seeing their new son brought powerful memories of Hannah flooding to them. "Jack was born with really dark hair, heaps of it, the same as Hannah. She used to fold her thumb between her fingers in a particular way and he does that. He looks a hell of a lot like her - it's uncanny," says Robert, who says they will never forget their "one-in-a-million" little girl.

Asked how she is coping with looking after a small baby after so long Susan has the perfect reply. "It's like riding a bike, isn't it. You never forget. It's a new start now, but Hannah won't be forgotten."