He spent the first five and a half months of his life in hospital after being born with his bowel hanging outside his abdomen and has come through three big operations to try to correct the defect.

Oliver still can’t deal with his own waste naturally, which is collected in a bag on his belly, but a further operation is planned for around the time he should be celebrating his first birthday. He may also have to undergo a bowel and liver transplant in future if his condition deteriorates.

When Oliver arrived at his Charleston home for the first time last month, he was in the house for less than 24 hours before he became unwell and was admitted to hospital again having developed Norovirus, the winter vomiting bug.

It was a blow for first-time parents Katie Stewart (20) and Lee Hogan (29), who had thought they could finally start living like a normal young family after months of keeping vigil miles from home, as Oliver received specialist treatment in the Sick Children’s Hospital, Edinburgh.

But their latest setback proved to be temporary and they are now getting used to being able to take their small son out in his pram for a walk and do the ordinary things for their little boy that other parents take for granted.

He’s only recently started taking milk from a bottle after having been fed intravenously for months.

The young couple have been to hell and back since Katie was just 11 weeks pregnant and a scan revealed there could be something wrong with the baby.

Two weeks later the diagnosis of gastroschisis, a condition that affects around one in every 9500 newborns, was confirmed and the young couple knew their first child would arrive with his bowel outside his body.

Plans were made for Katie to give birth in Edinburgh, where her baby could get the specialist help he needed.

“When he was born I didn’t even get to hold him and Lee didn’t get to cut the cord,” said Katie. “He was immediately transferred to the Sick Children’s Hospital.

“When we went to see him, he was just lying in an incubator, attached to a lot of machines and with his bowel hanging up in a thing called a silo.”

Katie and Lee didn’t leave their infant son, staying beside his incubator from six in the morning until after midnight every day.

They had a room on the top floor of the hospital where they could catch a few hours of sleep before returning to keep a watchful eye on their precious boy.

The wee tot had to endure withdrawal symptoms when he was weaned off morphine on two separate occasions after many days in intensive care on the strong pain-killing drug following surgery.

“He was getting the jitters,” said Katie. “He was trying to go to sleep and just jumping.”

But having come through all the trauma, Oliver is now clearly enjoying discovering a whole new world beyond the narrow confines of a hospital ward, while his mum and dad share the joy.

“It’s little things like we haven’t been able until now to wake up in the morning and bring him in to the bed beside us,” said Lee.

The couple paid tribute to the staff in Edinburgh who cared for Oliver and for the support of their friends and family throughout the long months in hospital.

Several fund-raising events have been organised and Katie and Lee are to give the money to Ward 4 at the Sick Children’s Hospital in appreciation of the help given.