A MOTHER was sent home twice from hospital before giving birth to her stillborn son Lucas.

Her family are demanding answers and Basildon Hospital has launched an investigation into what went wrong.

Brentwood Live:

Family - Stela, her husband George and 12 year old daughter Emeilia are demanding answers

Stela Ernu, 31, was almost two weeks overdue when she eventually underwent a 54 hour labour before giving birth to Lucas who, tragically, was stillborn.

Basildon Hospital launched an investigation but six months on and the family still haven’t had any answers.

Stela, who lives in Aveley with husband George and their 12-year-old daughter Emeilia, said: “As a woman giving birth you can’t wait to get that baby in your arms.

“Having to go through labour knowing that your baby is dead was the worst thing that you can possibly imagine and the most horrific thing that has ever happened to me.

“I was pushing, still hopeful that somehow my baby was alive.”

Stela was told that she was going to be induced on March 12 this year when she was 12 days overdue. After feeling contractions the night before, she went into Basildon Hospital that morning, when a scan suggested that her due date was slightly later. She was told to go home and come back in three days.

The following day her contractions had gotten worse, so Stela and her husband George went back into the hospital.

Stela said: “When the doctor came, she asked when my waters had broke and I said I didn’t notice that they had.

“She said that she was really sorry, but there wasn’t enough water and that my baby wasn’t there any more. I started screaming and crying, saying that that wasn’t possible.

“I was asking if there was any way that they could perform a C-section on me to see if he was still alive as maybe his heart had just stopped. The doctor said she was sorry and immediately left the room.

“They handed his little body to me and I was glad to be able to hold my little Lucas. I kept him in a cot next to me until the morning.

“There were people everywhere trying to help once I had lost my baby, but it made me really angry as I thought, where were they when he was still alive?

“I would urge medical staff to treat all pregnancies with the same level of urgency.”

Stephanie Prior, head of clinical negligence at London law firm Osbornes Law, who are representing Stela, said: “This is a tragic case of a young mum who had no complications throughout her pregnancy, but then suffered the devastation of having her son stillborn.

“Ms Ernu is desperate for answers about why she lost her son and we would urge those conducting the investigation to publish their findings as soon as possible.”

Chief nursing officer Diane Sarkar said: “We offer our sincerest condolences to Stela Ernu and the family of baby Ernu at this extremely difficult time. A full investigation is currently being conducted externally to the trust by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB).

“We do not have the report at this time and cannot comment further until this investigation has been completed.”