Today I'm not Martine Wright the bomb victim.. I'm Martine the mummy

NEW mum Martine Wright proudly cradles her baby son Oscar - a precious, gurgling 10lb triumph of love and life over hatred and death.

And as she tenderly rocks the child she feared she'd never have, she smiles and says: "Today, I'm not Martine the bomb victim. Today I'm Martine the mummy."

Predicted to arrive on July 7, the fourth anniversary of the horrific London attacks that almost killed Martine and robbed her of both legs - Oscar was finally born nine days late last Thursday.

He entered the world after mum Martine, 36, endured an exhausting four days in hospital, climaxing in an induced labour then a dramatic Caesarean section.

But just like she did after the 2005 atrocities, slowly recovering from appalling injuries inflicted in the mangled Aldgate Tube train, Martine tackled every challenge with steely determination.

And last night - showing off newborn Oscar exclusively to the News of the World - she said:

"He's a miracle. I never dared imagine I'd ever see the day I was holding my own son. It's life-changing and so hard to describe.

"I think it's been more emotional for us with it being around the 7/7 anniversary. The people who died on the train are never going to be able to fulfil their dreams. Those dreams were lost forever, for them and their families. It so easily could have been me, so I know I'm so lucky. I finally feel like I'm no longer recovering, I'm moving on."

MIND MY BUMP: Pregnant Martine

As Martine's lifeblood literally ebbed away in the Underground wreck four years ago she didn't think she would survive, never mind become a bride and then a doting mum.

Then a marketing executive, she was just a few paces away from the bomber when he detonated his deadly device on the crowded morning train. The force of the blast tore off her legs above the knee.

Revived five times on the operating table, she haemorrhaged 90 per cent of her blood. Surgeons put Martine's survival down to her own inner strength.

And she had to draw on that again during Oscar's difficult birth. But, as ever, courageous Martine shrugs aside her pain.

Describing Oscar's birth at 10.30am last Thursday, she said: "It was a moving moment. There were tears rolling down my face when I saw him for the first time.

"I'm not sure we'd have liked it if Oscar HAD arrived on the anniversary of the bomb. It's as if God made him wait a little so he was a little bit more sturdy and I'd be able to hold him and change his nappy.

"He's only a few days old but already he can hold his head up."

At Martine's side was proud husband Nick Wiltshire, 36, the photographer who frantically searched for his missing girlfriend in the aftermath of the 7/7 blast. For 72 harrowing hours he desperately scoured one hospital ward after another, fearing he'd lost his partner of two years.

And the couple both confess that the tense days before Oscar's arrival, and his perilous delivery, brought back vivid memories of that trauma. "It was very emotional being in the hospital," explained Martine. "I felt physically sick lying in the hospital bed.

"It took me right back to four years ago - the nurses coming in at night, the same sounds, even the curtains looked familiar.

"It was really tough. I wanted to leave. There were no babies on the ward so it was easy to forget why you were there. It was like being ill again. The wait was the worst part. I went in on Monday 13th and they tried to bring the baby on but he wasn't coming." At first doctors feared that Martine's bomb-ravaged body would not be able to give birth naturally and they worried that her scar tissue would make a Caesarean dangerous.

OSCAR A WINNER: After a tricky birth mum Martine & dad Nick get baby home

After three days of waiting at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire, medics decided to induce the birth and contractions finally began 40 minutes later. "But I couldn't walk around or move much to ease the pain," said Martine. "That went on for 13 hours. I was exhausted. I was on gas and air and I kept watching the monitors. The tops of my legs were swelling up and Nick was starting to get worried."

During one quick break to pick up a meal of fish and chips, Nick was suddenly seized by fear.

"I was starting to panic after all the trauma I've witnessed," he recalled. "I know how badly life can go wrong and how quickly things can change. It was so scary. Martine was in pain, there was nothing I could do and I felt helpless. I could see it all being snatched away from me."

As the gruelling wait continued, doctors were forced to break the news they'd been dreading. Martine would need a C-section.

She recalled: "The whole way along we've said we wanted to avoid a Caesarean if possible because I'm so reliant on my stomach muscles for movement.

"But I wasn't dilating as much as I needed to. So we decided to go ahead. At the end of the day we wanted what was best for the baby but I worried I wouldn't be able to sit up or even hold him or her."

Hurriedly dressed in blue hospital overalls, Nick was with his wife of 14 months as she was wheeled into the operating theatre.

Martine told us: "I had an oxygen mask on and was lying back looking at the ceiling. That's when I started to panic. It was too close to being in the Royal London Hospital after the bomb. I took the mask off, I couldn't handle it.

"One of the doctors chatted to try to keep me calm. I felt so claustrophobic with the screen in front of me, too. Then the doctors all said, 'Oh, what a big baby!'

"He started to scream and as he was put on my chest the tears rolled down my face. I was looking at my baby son for the first time. And I was shocked at how big he was.

"I thought, 'Wow! I'm a mum!' Nick was welling up too. It was even more emotional after everything we've been through together."

OSCAR A WINNER: After a tricky birth mum Martine & dad Nick get baby home

Martine and Nick had not chosen a name before the birth but as soon as they saw their newborn son they both immediately agreed on Oscar. "We had a number of boys' names in mind but when we saw him we KNEW he was an Oscar, little Ozzy for short," said Martine.

"The doctors and nurses had been taking bets on how big he was and wanted to weigh him straight away. He was actually 10lb. I was hoping I'd be able to carry him in a sling when we do venture out, but he may actually be too big already!"

New father Nick was full of joy as he told us: "Years ago I may have dreamed of being a dad and living in the country - but I couldn't have guessed how things would turn out.

"Despite everything, I got what I wanted. It's amazing how robust human beings are and how you can pick yourself up and move on.

"We're home now with a baby boy and to be a family is very emotional. Oscar's smashing. I'm already thinking about what nickname his team-mates in the England cricket squad are going to call him. Either that or he's going to be a doctor or a singer in a rock band - it's up to him!"

Initially Oscar had difficulty breast-feeding but now has a healthy appetite.

As his mum talks, he struggles to keep his eyes open, oblivious to the significance of his life - an act of defiance against the terrorists who brought indiscriminate slaughter to the capital.

Now Martine is eagerly awaiting their first trip out together from their Hertfordshire home into the big wide world. Still recovering from the surgery, she has already rebuilt enough strength to hoist herself from the sofa into her wheelchair. And, despite doctors' warnings that it may take a few months before she can again walk on her false legs, she said: "I'm hoping to get new ones that lock at the knee so I can pick Oscar up without toppling over." Four years ago, as she battled for life after days in a coma, it seemed unlikely Martine would live, never mind walk again. Yet just months later, she was out of her wheelchair and learning to use her false limbs.

Every step of the way has been a battle - and Martine knows motherhood will be no different.

The News of the World has been with her throughout. We saw those first paces on her computerised legs. We helped fulfil her dream of flying a plane and watched her hurtling down the slopes as she learned to ski again.

Martine spearheaded our What About the Victims? campaign to win better compensation from the government for 7/7 victims and their families. And we sat in the church as she bravely walked the 34 steps up the aisle to marry Nick in May last year.

As she prepares for her latest challenge, Martine relies on the sense of humour that helped her through her darkest days.

She revealed: "As I say, we're glad Oscar wasn't born on the 7/7 anniversary. But when he was late I was eating hotter and hotter curries in a bid to bring on labour.

"I worked my way through the whole menu at the local Indian all the way up to jalfrezi. It didn't work but I'm surprised Oscar isn't demanding curry now instead of milk!"

Looking back on the extraordinary highs and lows of the past four years, Martine added: "There were days when I didn't think any of this would be possible.

"I didn't think I'd be able to get back to my life.

"If this was a book, Oscar's birth would be the happy ending. But in a way it's a new beginning, a new chapter."

• Doctors took out half my boy's brain
• Little Miss sum-shine
• Martine's baby hope
• When the doctor said you're due on July 7 I said: You are joking?

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