A couple who suffered the heartache of three miscarriages have suffered another blow with the death of their two-day-old daughter.

Little Paige Liee Meehan, who was born with Down's Syndrome, died in the arms of her mother Stephanie Testa with her dad Mark Meehan at her side in Bradford Royal Infirmary.

The baby, who weighed 6lbs 13oz, had spent two days wired up to machines in the hospital's neo-natal unit after being born with persistent foetal circulation before she died on September 12.

Persistent foetal circulation means that the normal reduction in blood pressure through the lungs which happen when a baby breathes, after birth, does not happen correctly.

It is a serious but uncommon problem in newborn babies.

Stephanie, 40, said: "Paige was desperately wanted. We had her for about one-and-a-half hours before she was moved into the neo-natal unit.

"I didn't realise anything was wrong at first apart from the Down's.

"When I was told she might have Down's, it was not a problem.

"To get this far and to think I had done it, then for this to happen does not seem real.

"The day after she was born her grandma brought her a pink dress and she looked like a little princess in it. She was lovely and pink and had such chubby cheeks.

"While she was fighting we said we would fight for her but then she started having episodes when she started going really weak and we took the decision not to give her any more drugs," said Stephanie.

"By that point she was telling us she had had enough." Stephanie, of Ingleborough Close, Holme Wood, Bradford, has three sons aged from 15 to 20 and an 11-year-old daughter, Jade, and Mark has a four-year-old daughter.

"Jade has been great," said Stephanie.

"She has been carrying everyone else. She cried the first day and she has been strong ever since.

"She loves her sister because she has three older brothers.

"I am just trying to make sense of it. One minute I was pregnant and now I will be burying my baby. There was nothing in between."

The couple thanked family and friends for their support and praised medical staff at BRI.

Mark, 23, said: "I bought her a guardian angel because she was our little angel.

"I got to change her nappy and wash her which was nice, and better than not being able to touch her at all.

"For Stephanie to have had Paige and then for her to be taken away feels unreal. As far as I am concerned it was nature's course.

"Paige was not meant to be here with us.

"After they took out the wires, I carried her into a separate room where Steph was waiting so that if she died then she would be in one of our arms. We did not want her to be by herself when she died."

Mark will carry his daughter's coffin at her funeral service on Monday, where mourners are invited to wear pink.

A service will be held at Ebenezer Methodist Church, Dudley Hill, at 11am followed by interment at Bowling Cemetery.