Tragic couple's new baby joy

Laura and Marcello Mongiovi's little boy named Alfonso lived for just 22 minutes because of a preventable disorder called vasa previa.

A vital scan could have detected the condition and saved him. Now 21 weeks' pregnant with her second baby, Laura underwent the scan as a precaution last week and was given the all-clear.

The couple, of Oxley, are overjoyed at being told they are expecting a little girl and have already named her Sofia. Laura said today: "Marcello and I are over the moon. I was not expecting to get pregnant so soon but it has happened in the blink of an eye."

The 27-year-old and her hairstylist husband had never heard of vasa previa until it claimed the life of Alfonso in August last year.

The condition affects one in 3,000 infants and is caused when blood vessels from the placenta or umbilical cord cross the entrance to the birth canal beneath the baby.

The child rapidly loses blood and, in up to 95 per cent of undetected cases, will die. But if picked up earlier in the mother's pregnancy by sonographers, the baby could survive the condition.

The scan, however, is not given automatically on the NHS, unlike tests for Downs Syndrome and spina bifida.

Laura was able to have the scan at New Cross Hospital to ensure her unborn child would not suffer the same as her older brother.

She said: "It was so simple and took just a few minutes. I was quite shocked because had we been able to have this the first time around, Alfonso would have lived."

Laura and Marcello want all hospitals to be equipped with special expensive ultrasound machines that will spot the condition early.

Laura added: "We are really happy but it is bittersweet. Had Alfonso lived, Sofia would probably not have come around so soon.

"Last year things appeared so bleak but now we have something to really look forward to."

For information about the condition log on to www. vasaprevia.com