Model whose newborn daughter died honours her memory with bittersweet tattoo

Australian influencer Leah Jay has shared the powerful way she has honoured her late daughter's memory, after her newborn tragically died shortly after birth.

The model, who lost her newborn daughter Rowe in June, recently posted a photo on social media which captured the bittersweet tattoo inked on her arm, of her late daughter's heartbeat.

'Her heartbeat,' Leah captioned the photo.

Many of Leah's celebrity friends took to the comments section to offer their words of support.

'Beautiful,' fellow model Jess Rae King wrote.

Meanwhile, Ashy Bines and Anna Heinrich posted love heart emojis. 

Last month, Leah shared the heartbreaking news that she had lost her daughter, uploading a photo of herself and partner Michael Ramsey cradling their tiny infant in a hospital bed.

'Our daughter. Rowe. The strongest little girl we will never get to know,' she wrote in the caption.

'You made it through infections and multiple surgeries, even when the odds were against you. 

'We are absolutely devastated. Rest peacefully. Love always, mum, dad and your big brother Reeves.'

Leah also uploaded a photo of herself sweetly kissing Rowe in the hospital bed, alongside the words: 'My beautiful girl. She looked identical to her brother.'

The devastating news came just months after Leah underwent open heart surgery days after announcing her second pregnancy. 

Posting on Instagram, the Texas-based brunette revealed that her ordeal began after she noticed her leg had become swollen and painful. 

After visiting the hospital, doctors discovered a blood clot in her leg and she was required to undergo emergency surgery.

Unfortunately, the cause of the blood clot was an infection in her heart which had been in her body for a year. 

'I kept thinking it was just bad luck, pregnancy symptoms, or that I needed to push through it,' she said in January. 

'But my body was trying to tell me something much bigger.'

After this, she and Michael transferred to a top heart surgery centre after doctors found a strep infection in her blood, which created a mitral valve vegetation on Leah's heart - a form of infection which forms along the edges of the heart valves.

Leah was required to undergo open heart surgery for the valve to be replaced. 

The six-hour ordeal required the pregnant model's heart to be stopped for 80 minutes. 

In May, Leah uploaded a video montage documenting her recovery from the surgery, including footage of herself working out at the gym. 

She also shared an image of herself ringing a bell in a hospital ward.  

'Graduated cardiac rehab. Couldn’t be happier,' she announced in the caption.