A GRIEVING couple who have lost 12 babies are campaigning to have more NHS research into baby loss.

Robert Beaton and Amanda Gordon from Dreghorn have suffered 12 baby losses in just three years.

After finding out they were expecting for the 11th time last month their hopes were again cruelly dashed when doctors discovered Amanda had suffered a bilateral ectopic pregnancy.

In a cruel twist, a scan showed the couple had been expecting twins and each foetus has trapped in each of Amanda’s fallopian tubes, leaving doctors baffled.

Amanda said: “It was devastating. Finding out we had been expecting twins but we would lose them both was very hard to take.”

Amanda, 34, says even when the couple were waiting to have their scan, they were already prepared for the worst.

She said: “We are sitting in that waiting room and because we have been here so many times before and it has been terrible news. you are almost expecting it.”

Amanda says with every lost baby her suffering has been worsened by having to go through invasive surgeries. She said: “It’s horrific and when it was the first few times it took me so long to understand it and get over it. Now we have lost two babies in our 11th pregnancy and we are still devastated but eventually you almost become desensitized in a way, because it is the worst possible news so at that point I know what has to happen next, so I just want to get it over with.”

Robert, 33, says watching the woman he loves in pain and knowing they have lost yet another child is almost too much to bear.

He said: “In the past three years we have been through torture. This last time was really hard. The doctors said it was a one in 100,000 chance of having a double ectopic pregnancy.”

Now the couple, who are also parents to twins Michael and Callum, 16, Erin, 14 and Darcy, nine, have launched a petition calling for more funding into NHS research on why miscarriages happen.

Robert said “We have been through Hell and we just feel like we need answers. The care and treatment we have had from NHS staff has been exceptional. We just can’t fault it, but this issue is underfunded, we need to have more money invested into all types of baby loss so we can find out why this happens. One in four pregnancies end in baby loss. I think that is a shocking number.”

The couple are planning to send the petition, which has already gained more than 400 signatures, to cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, Jeane Freeman.

Robert added: “If that petition can help get finding for research then we hope that more couples won’t have to go through what we have.”

To sign the petition click here.