There was no bundle of joy in her arms – just a raw and savage anguish in her heart.

Bailee delivered a tiny daughter on March 21, 2018 with husband Josh by her side.

Georgia Molly Smith died in her mother’s arms at just 22 weeks of age.

Surrounded by the cries of healthy, newborn babies and women in labour, Bailee stayed overnight with her forever sleeping angel.

She held Georgia, she dressed her in one of the teeny-tiny outfits provided by the hospital and took precious photos the next day.

And when it was time to leave, beautifully kind nurses ushered the grieving parents through a separate exit, away from the typical cheeriness of a maternity ward goodbye.

Devastatingly for Bailee and Josh, this is the second time they have experienced the agony of baby loss.

Lucy Elizabeth Smith was born at just 21 weeks on July 29, 2011 after a scan revealed complications arising from severe spina bifida.

“It was truly horrendous having to go through the loss of another baby girl,” the Tallangatta Primary School teacher says.

Compounding the grief is the isolation this type of loss brings, according to Bailee.

“You go home to an empty house,” she says.

“People don’t know how to speak to you; conversations are awkward because they don’t want to bring it up – people are scared to make you sad.

“People who were close to you suddenly disappear.”

Having faced this crippling loss twice, Bailee has a keen insight into the pain mums in the same situation are experiencing.

It’s why she has signed up a team for Liptember, a campaign to raise funds and awareness for women’s mental health during September.

The slogan is to ‘Kiss Away The Blues’ and everyone who signs up needs to wear lipstick every day for the month.

Empowered by the support of family and friends, members of Bailee’s Butterfly Kisses team are proudly sporting prettily painted lips to add their voices to the cause.

The campaign highlights that one in three women will suffer depression or anxiety during their lifetime, and that postnatal depression affects 15 per cent of women within the first year after childbirth.

For Bailee, Liptember is also about finding purpose in the midst of inexplicable grief and supporting other mums in that journey.

“I’m trying to be brave and I’m just going to talk out loud,” she says.

“Baby loss is still largely a grief that can’t be spoken and I want other mums to know they are not alone.

“I want to give them a ‘big squeeze’ and tell them sometimes it’s okay to say, ‘It just sucks’.”

The Smiths never expected the pregnancy with Georgia to go wrong.

However after Lucy’s death, they wanted expert eyes on the pregnancy and were due for a 21-week scan with a visiting specialist obstetrician from Melbourne.

“We had the scan on Friday, March 16 and that’s where we found out Georgia was not okay,” Bailee recalls.

“It was an awful weekend.

“Every maternal instinct makes you want to fight for your baby.

“We had a very long consultation on the Monday with Dr Simone Mulder and we had to make a decision no parent should ever have to make.”

The parents have since undergone genetic counselling and now understand both their baby girls had neural tube defects that were not compatible with life.

“The decision we made was for Georgia; it wasn’t about me,” Bailee says.

“Saying hello and goodbye to my two beautiful baby girls is the most difficult thing I’ve had to go through.

“I’m not even sure if you can ever get completely through.”

The 31-year-old mum finds it difficult that well-meaning people send flowers after a baby has died.

“You have the funeral and then everyone goes home and returns to their normal lives,” she explains.

“I’m left putting dying flowers in the bin.”

What helped was practical support from her family and close-knit mothers’ group.

“The mums all cooked meals and left casseroles, which was so much better than flowers,” Bailee says.

“I still had a three-year-old (Caleb) I had to function for and he had to eat.”

After Lucy’s death Bailee admits she was “an absolute mess”.

“I was just a sobbing bundle, I was 26 and I was so scared,” she says.

“With Georgia I knew the process – I knew what was going to happen.”

That knowledge didn’t make it any easier but it did mean Bailee could keep herself busy during the agonising week Georgia was sent to Melbourne for her autopsy.

“There were eight babies ahead of her,” Bailee says sadly.

“Isn’t that an awful thought? Yet somehow they were able to bring her home in time to be buried on Easter Thursday.”

Bailee took comfort in organising a beautiful send-off – she arranged the cake, designed the service booklet and three giant balloons for Caleb, Joshua and her to release at Georgia’s funeral.

Another comfort was Glenmorus Gardens cemetery allowing Georgia to be buried alongside her sister.

Explaining the process to three-year-old Caleb was another challenge for the parents.

“He knew there was a baby in my tummy,” Bailee says.

“We had to tell him Georgia died – he referred to her casket as ‘Georgia’s box’ and the funeral as ‘Georgia’s bye-bye’.

“He held on to her bear the whole time during the funeral and helped us release the balloons.”

Bailee has been busying herself with a raft of fundraisers for Liptember including a Let’s Get Bright dress-up day at her school on Thursday.

On September 15 she will present not one, but two memorial trophies at her mother’s dance school concert in Wodonga.

It will be a raw, bittersweet day.

In many ways, Bailee says, you don’t want the grief to go away.

Because that’s all you’ve got left to hold on to ... along with a few precious keepsakes.

The moments Bailee had with Georgia are her only memories in a lifetime of loss.

“You hold this tiny person you created and you feel so much love,” Bailee says.

“It’s the best and the worst feeling all at the same time.

“You hold them in your heart always and you don't want to forget because you love them so much.”