Happy endings do happen, and sometimes they defy even the most optimistic doctors' expectations.

For Nathan and Patricia "Tricia" Lawrenson, that happy ending occurred Thursday afternoon when they took their prematurely born daughter home from the hospital.

The Nags Head couple were featured in a story on Easter in The News & Observer. They went to Duke Hospital in September after a surprise pregnancy temporarily postponed Tricia's wait for a double lung transplant. Her own organs were scarred and clogged by cystic fibrosis. Tricia was taken off the transplant waiting list while she was pregnant. But her failing lungs made it impossible for her to carry the baby to term.

Gwyneth Rose was delivered by Caesarean section Jan. 8, at only 24 weeks -- the very edge of viability. As the preemie, who weighed just 1 pound, made her way to the neonatal intensive care unit, her mother was put on a ventilator.

In the five months since, the Lawrensons' every wish has come true. A donor was found, and Tricia emerged from nine hours of transplant surgery with a new pair of lungs. Gwyneth left the intensive care unit after she began breathing and eating on her own. She has quadrupled her birth weight, and suffers few evident complications, other than vision problems that will be mostly corrected by prescription glasses.

"She's doing remarkably well," said Dr. William Malcolm, the director of the intermediate level nursery at Duke Hospital.

Tricia, who was released from the hospital April 22, is undergoing daily physical therapy and growing in strength. Gwyneth, like many newborns, asks for food every two to three hours. Only half of preemies born at 24 weeks leave the hospital.

The Lawrensons, who hope their story will inspire others, expect to drive home to Nags Head within a month. In the meantime, they are staying at a local hotel while Tricia completes her physical therapy regimen.

"I don't think anybody, especially not the doctors, saw such a good ending," Nathan Lawrenson said. "We're just as amazed as everyone else."