'Our baby died at six months - and nobody knows why'

"We’d never stepped foot in the hospital before and felt completely disoriented when we were told the earth-shattering news that he’d died." These are the heartbreaking words of one family who would never get the answer they yearned for - how their little one died after a six month pregnancy.

Baby Louis was stillborn just weeks after devastated parents Jess Waugh and her partner, Jim, moved from Brighton to Manchester. But after multiple tests, Jess and Jim found out that experts could not determine exactly why the pregnancy had ended so tragically.

The couple were shocked to learn that the inability to find any root cause is the case for as many as half of all stillbirths. Now, they are fundraising to help find more causes and treatments that will save babies’ lives.

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Jess Waugh and partner Jim, who are parents to Mila, four-years-old, and baby Lola, five months, were devastated to lose Louis six months into their pregnancy in January last year.

Jess said: “Louis was born in Saint Mary’s Hospital just weeks after we’d moved to Manchester from Brighton. We’d never stepped foot in the hospital before and felt completely disoriented when we were told the earth-shattering news that he’d died.

"But despite being the saddest and scariest experience of our lives, the staff at Saint Mary’s were nothing short of amazing. Their bereavement midwives took Louis’ photos, hand and footprints, helped us to arrange his funeral, and provided us with counselling to help us come to terms with our loss and traumatic birth and feel supported to go through pregnancy again.

"They also referred us to Tommy’s research centre which we felt so