My girlfriend & our newborn baby died just HOURS apart – I placed our dying little girl in her dead mum’s arms
A TRAGIC young dad-to-be whose girlfriend and newborn baby died just hours apart has spoken for the first time about his heartbreak.
Grief stricken Daniel Darbyshire, 20, said: "At the moment, I'm just lost. I'm pretty much lost and heartbroken."
Chef Daniel told how he had placed his tiny baby girl in her dead mother's arms so that she could take her last breath with her mum.
He then pushed his daughter back from the mortuary in a pram, and the family were able to bathe and baptise her.
His "fit and healthy" partner Mellodie-Jarman, 19, was 33 weeks pregnant when was rushed to hospital just a day after she had complained of feeling unwell.
Tragically she collapsed and died despite the efforts of medics.
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Their unborn child Athena-Pearl was delivered by emergency C-section an hour later but doctors warned Daniel that she was unlikely to survive and she passed away a few hours later.
Daniel, from Leigh, Greater Manchester, said: "I feel lost, I'm not sure what to do.
"Mellodie would normally give me an insight on what to do and keep life as a structure, now it's gone.
"At the moment, I'm just lost. The big word is pretty much lost and heartbroken, really."
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Mellodie first complained of feeling faint and dizzy on her way to a scan on January 31.
A doctor said she had low iron levels, and prescribed her liquid iron and antibiotics before the couple, who had been together for more than two and a half years, returned home.
Daniel added: "The day after she was fine throughout the day, we were watching telly and taking pictures, just messing around. She seemed fine.
"Then, on Saturday night she had the same again, saying she couldn't hear and she could see white, like she did on Friday, and that she was struggling to breathe."
She was later rushed into hospital when she had difficulties breathing and was struggling to see.
Medics at the Royal Bolton Hospital desperately tried to revive her by performing CPR and did an emergency C-section to deliver Athena.
Tragically Mellodie died around an hour after the operation and baby Athena was put on life support, but the family were told she wasn't likely to pull through.
Doctors allowed them to place Athena in Mellodie's arms in the hospital mortuary to take her last breath.
Daniel then pushed Athena in a pram back to the hospital's neonatal unit to be bathed and get dressed.
He said: "At the time Mellodie passed it was heartbreaking, we were praying for baby to make it and try and survive.
"They tried giving baby every medication they could to try and help her, but the medication wasn't working and the baby's vitals and blood pressure were dropping.
"That's when we decided to move her and they took us down to the place where Mellodie was, while still giving baby oxygen, so baby would have her last breath with Mellodie as she got placed into her arms."
Just weeks earlier, the couple from Leigh, Greater Manchester, had booked their first holiday together and were even talking about buying their own home.
Daniel took Mellodie on a two-night getaway to the luxury Carden Park Hotel in Chester as the couple prepared for their new child and Mellodie celebrated her 19th birthday.
He added: "We were planning on saving up and getting our own place together.
"We'd never been on holiday, so this year we were planning on going to Greece, she wanted to go to Greece.
"We had a whole life planned together. We thought this wouldn't happen, no-one did. We just planned on doing everything for the first time.
"I took her away on the 16th for two nights. We were just enjoying the moment.
"We'd never stayed over at a hotel, it was our first getaway for baby and for her birthday treat."
While enjoying their break, the couple spoke of what they would do once baby Athena was brought into the world.
Daniel added: "We were both excited to have little Athena, we wanted to give her everything that we could, make her life as good as it could be.
"Mellodie wanted Athena to start swimming lessons because we went swimming for a little while while we were away. She wanted Athena to start swimming, we both liked to swim."
Daniel said doctors do not know what caused her death and they are hoping an inquest will provide them with answers.
He added: "Doctors have said she was 19, fit and healthy, there were no complications. Even the doctors have no idea what caused it.
"That's why there's the coroner's report that we're waiting to try and find out and get some answers ourselves."
HEARTBREAKING PHONE CALL
It comes after Mellodie's heartbroken uncle Steven Darby, 52, said the family received a phone call about the baby's deteriorating condition before making their way back to baptise the new-born.
Mellodie's mum Justine said: "Mellodie was a sassy, upfront person who always said it how it is.
"She knew what she wanted in life and always found the banter and funny side in things. She was a real character."
Mellodie and Daniel, both staff members at The Thomas Burke Wetherspoons in nearby Leigh, were described as being "like glue" and had been eagerly anticipating the birth of their first child.
Steven said Mellodie's cause of death has not yet been identified and the family are waiting for the results of an investigation.
He said Mellodie was a "healthy" 19-year-old with "no health complications".
The family are now going through the "daunting experience" of arranging a funeral and have set up a fundraiser to cover the costs, he said.
He described the events in hospital as "deeply traumatic" but paid tribute to doctors and the neo-natal team for trying their "absolute best to save the baby".
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Steven added: "You could tell that it was traumatic for them too, but they did all they could to support us."
Anyone who wishes to donate to the fundraiser, which has already raised more than £6,000, can do so here: .
