TAUNTON Deane MP Jeremy Browne and his partner Rachel Binks feared losing their newborn baby during a rollercoaster week.

Their joy at Molly’s birth turned to despair within hours when experts diagnosed a life-threatening condition needing emergency surgery.

They wept after the bombshell at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton and feared the worst at hospital in Bristol.

But tears turned to relief when another consultant said the diagnosis was incorrect and Molly was fine.

Mr Browne said: “We were plunged into this awful world and then pulled out again.”

There was no hint of drama following Molly’s delivery at Musgrove last Tuesday (March 26).

“On Wednesday, she was coughing phlegm, but they said that was normal,” added the Home Office minister.

“Then later the doctor said he had concerns and wanted to examine Molly in the intensive care section.

“X-rays showed her oesophagus – [connecting the throat and stomach] – was incomplete and her food-pipe might be connected to her windpipe.

“She needed complicated life-saving surgery and her survival was unsure.”

The couple collected their belongings from the ward before mother and baby were rushed to Bristol.

Mr Browne said: “It was traumatic and devastating.

“You’re suddenly transported into this dark abyss, with an overwhelming sense of weightlessness and powerlessness.”

At hospital in Bristol, he witnessed the ‘harrowing scene’ of a doctor drawing a diagram of the surgery the distraught couple’s three-day-old daughter faced.

Following more tests and X-rays and what seemed like an eternity, they were told the original diagnosis was wrong.

“She’d been in a unit for the South-West’s most intensively sick children. When we left it felt like she was the only survivor walking away from a plane crash,” said Mr Browne.

“The most memorable day of my life should have been Tuesday (Molly’s birth) – yet it was only the third most memorable day of last week after Wednesday, when we were told she needed life-saving surgery, and Thursday, when we found she was healthy.”

Miss Binks praised Musgrove staff’s ‘outstanding care’, adding: “We’re grateful they checked Molly thoroughly – it’s better something like this happens than they miss something.

“But it was a nightmare – a glimpse of hell before we were whisked back out.

“It’s made us even more grateful and appreciative of how lucky anybody is to have a healthy baby.”

A Musgrove Park spokeswoman said: “If, after assessing a patient, a specialist opinion or treatment is required a patient may need to be transferred to a tertiary centre for further investigation.

“This is routine practice which is followed by all staff at Musgrove.”