An Irvine woman helped raise more than £9,000 for charity after the tragedy of losing two babies.

Stephanie Taylor and fiancé Scott Graham were dealt a double devastating blow when both their baby sons passed away after being born prematurely.

The couple’s first son Rory, was born at 27 weeks in April 2016 but tragically passed away four weeks later. Then three years later, in January this year their second son Romeo was born and only survived a few hours.

Stephanie suffers from a congenital heart condition so when she found out she was pregnant in October 2015, doctors advised the 24-year-old that she should terminate.

But Stephanie and Scott, 25, decided to go forward with the pregnancy and hope their precious baby survived.

Stephanie said: “They did a scan and said they thought it best if I terminate the pregnancy. That was a bit of a shock. I knew it wasn’t in me to terminate the pregnancy.

“At 19 weeks I got taken in as my heart was not doing well and it was stopping Rory’s growth. Then at 25 weeks he just completely stopped growing.”

Rory arrived at 27 weeks by Caesarean section, but despite putting up a brave fight, the tiny tot passed away after just four weeks.

Stephanie said: “A couple of days after he was born they noticed his stomach was swelling so they had to do surgery and fit a stoma. He was doing great up until that happened then he really went downhill. He had a lot of fluid and his lungs were collapsing.

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“On May 5 they came to us and said we would advise you take a day with him and we’ll put you into a separate room together and when you feel the time is right we think its best if you switch the life support machine off. He died in my arms later on that night.”

Three years later in January this year the Broomlands couple welcomed their second son, Romeo who arrived when Stephanie was 25 weeks pregnant. Tragically the tiny tot survived for just a few hours before passing away in his mother’s arms.

Stephanie said: “I fell pregnant again last year and they said they didn’t think he would have any chance of surviving at all. We just hoped there would be that slight wee chance that they could be wrong, we decided to go on with it then at 25 weeks my heart was starting to go again and Romeo was born.”

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Following the devastating double loss Stephanie decided to fundraise for a new bereavement room in the neonatal unit which will be named Romeo’s Room.

Stephanie teamed up with Kilwinning resident and Golfathon fundraiser Rikki Black to hold a joint charity ball at The Riverside Lodge on Saturday, November 2 to raise money for The Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with Rikki raising funds for the Ayrshire Hospice.

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On the night £7,289 was raised with gift aid taking the total to just over £9,000.

Stephanie said: “The girls we dealt with at the hospital told us about a bereavement room project and because of the situation we were in both times, we knew how important it was for people to have that space.”

On the loss of her babies Stephanie says she and Scott and just trying to move forward.

She added: “It’s hard to put into words how you feel but you still need to get up everyday and get on with it, I’ve not got any other choice.”

Organisers wished to thank guests, the band Rogues Gallery, everybody who donated a raffle or auction prize, host Elliot Boyce and Ziysis Events.