By Julie Armstrong and Thom Kennedy

Last updated 08:26, Friday, 04 July 2008

When Roxanne Irving’s baby boy died in his sleep without warning at just two weeks old, she never imagined she could feel joy again.

Roxanne Irving with Morgan

A post mortem revealed two holes in little Liam’s heart which neither his mum or his dad, Liam Kerr, had known anything about.

Four months after their tragic loss, they could hardly allow themselves to believe it – Roxanne was pregnant.

“I was scared, really scared of losing him,” said the 20-year-old, who lives in Haig Road, Harraby, Carlisle.

“Until the day I had Morgan, I didn’t think it was real. I had to try not to get my hopes up.”

A 12-week scan offered some reassurance, but when she started to bleed the day after, the terror came flooding back.

She was rushed straight to hospital, where she was told it was a blood clot in the placenta and she and the baby would be fine.

Now Morgan, whose middle name is Liam, is 15 weeks old and fighting fit.

He arrived in near perfect health three weeks early, weighing 7lbs 5oz.

“As soon as I looked at him, I felt a rush of love.

“He’s got Liam’s chin, but our daughter Emily knows the difference.”

Roxanne, Liam, 24, and three-year-old Emily marked what would have been Liam’s first birthday in May by laying down roses at the crematorium. He will never leave their thoughts and his name, in Chinese calligraphy, will forever adorn the base of his mum’s back.

“I still poke Morgan when he’s asleep and rub his lip, just to check he’s alive,” said Roxanne.

“I have a monitor mat under the mattress which monitors Morgan’s breathing. If sets off an alarm if it doesn’t detect movement. I’d recommend it to all mothers.”

During the pregnancy she had three scans for heart disease, something which she feels should be available to all mothers-to-be. Though Morgan does have a miniscule pinprick hole in his heart, doctors have assured her it will not get any bigger and may even close up.

“Without those checks I would have been even more terrified,” she said. “And I wouldn’t have got them if I hadn’t lost Liam. I think every hospital should have the equipment and do the scans as routine; I had to go to Newcastle for mine.”

• Theo Davies, the Keswick baby born with half a heart, has come off his life support machine.

It means Theo, whose first birthday is approaching next Thursday, can survive a little longer before requiring a heart transplant.

Dad Ryan Davies, 22, said: “He has managed to fight his way off the life support machine, although he is still ventilated to help his breathing. It buys us a bit more time, which is brilliant.”

Theo suffers from Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, which means that the left of his heart has never grown.

He was on life support awaiting a heart transplant.

But he could spend a maximum of three weeks on the machine, after which the machine itself would be damaging. Because he is now functioning independently, that three-week cycle can begin again on a different machine, giving him a longer period in which a new heart could become available.