by Emma Grove

A couple who lost their four-month-old daughter to cot death have announced they are expecting another baby.

Mark-Antony Jones and Lucy-Rae Tamulevicius were left heart-broken after losing Xara-Mae Melody to sudden infant death syndrome on July 29 last year.

To try to help with the grief, the couple started fundraising for the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID) in memory of their daughter and have already raised about £5,000.

Mark-Antony said they were overjoyed to find out Lucy-Rae, 23, was expecting again towards the end of last year.

The couple, of Chapel Mews, off Alma Street, Sheerness, have found out the baby is going to be a girl and have decided to name her Zelia-Mae Harmony.

Mark-Antony said they had no idea Lucy-Rae was pregnant and it was only after he noticed her slight bump that they did a test.

The 31-year-old said: "We didn't have any idea she was pregnant.

"We were just amazed because of the trauma we had gone through and she was pregnant all through it.

"We have been through a rollercoaster of emotions - when Xara-Mae was born and adapting to that, then losing her, then finding out Lucy-Rae was pregnant again.

"What's remarkable is that all through that trauma this little child was in there.

"Scans of Xara-Mae showed her sucking her thumb and Zelia-Mae's scans show the same - it's a miracle feeling.

"We both have moments when we think of Xara-Mae and it's not to replace her, we could never replace our first child, but it's going to be her little sister which is a brilliant feeling."

He said they decided to find out which sex the baby is going to be as they felt it was something they needed to know after everything they have been through.

They have chosen to keep the name Mae so Zelia will have a part of her sister.

Zelia-Mae is due on March 8, just over three weeks before what would've been Xara-Mae's first birthday.

The couple spent some of Christmas in Stoke-on-Trent, where Mark-Antony is from and Xara-Mae is buried.