A BENDIGO mum's Christmas wish has come true.
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Emily Stove will get to spend Christmas at home in Bendigo with her young family after spending six months in Melbourne caring for her baby Evie who was a patient at the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Baby Evie is six-months-old and has already survived nine cardiac arrests.
Evie’s parents Emily and Andrew were told they wouldn’t have long with their little girl and things have been touch and go throughout the year.
But Evie is a fighter and, to the delight of mum Emily, she was released from hospital earlier this month.
"It's lovely. We're very lucky to be home," Emily said.
"They didn't think we would make it home for Christmas but we have so we're very, very excited."
Evie was six weeks old when doctors discovered she had a kinked aorta and abnormal coronary.
"It's a little bit nerve-wracking at times but you get that I guess," Emily said.
"She's still got her trachie and she's still on Continuous Positive Airway Pressure so we've come home with the home CPAP equipment and she's still being tube-fed.
"But she's pretty stable and happy and growing big and strong."
Emily has been looking after Evie in Melbourne while Andrew cared for their three-year-old daughter Isabella in Bendigo.
"I'm so relieved to be home," Emily said.
"It's so lovely to be a family again.
"We can't believe we're home for Christmas - we were trying not to get too excited just in case it didn't happen.
"When we used to say the 'H word' (home) then something would happen.
"We had planned to come home but she got a mucus plug in her trachea and we had to go back to ICU so we were thinking, 'Oh no, here we go again'.
"But a couple of weeks after and we're good."
Emily thanked the Bendigo community for its ongoing support