A mum whose baby son was stillborn has called for women to get scans in the later stages of pregnancy in a bid to save lives.

Elen Hughes from Aberdaron lost Danial when she was 37 and a half weeks pregnant in 2012.

The 32-year-old, who is mother to another three boys, said her second pregnancy had been completely normal but, after feeling unwell one night, she woke up in the morning and felt the baby wasn’t moving as much as usual.

In panic, Elen went to Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor where she was immediately put on a machine to monitor Danial’s heart, and everything seemed fine.

But, after being kept on the monitor for four hours to check that all was well, the baby suddenly moved in an unusual way and the machine lost his heartbeat.

“We thought he’d just moved too far away from the machine for his heart to be picked up, but they never found his heartbeat again,” said Elen.

“He had passed away.”

Elen was at a loss to explain what happened as she said the pregnancy had been classed as “very low risk” and every scan was fine, with the hospital staff keen for her to have a home birth.

A post mortem also showed there was nothing wrong with Danial and no reason for his death.

The weeks and months which followed were very hard for Elen, who says she is very grateful to the SANDS Stillbirth and Neonatal Death charity for supporting her.

“I felt lost for a long time,” she said.

“The post mortem showed that there was nothing wrong with Danial and no reason for his death, which made things worse in a way because I had nothing to blame and nothing to try and avoid the next time.

“I got in touch with SANDS and went to their meetings in Bangor every month, because being able to share my feelings – even the really difficult ones – was so important.”

During Baby Loss Awareness Week in October, Elen met with Arfon AM Sian Gwenllian, as both are trying to raise awareness of the support available following the loss of a baby in Arfon, and to bring down the number of deaths.

Elen and her family have raised more than £4,000 for SANDS.

Following Danial’s death, Elen had two problem-free pregnancies with Tomos, who is now three, and Elis, who is now one.

The mum, who also lives with son Deio, eight, and husband Elfyn, says pregnant women need to be aware that late stillbirths such as hers are not uncommon and that there are measures that can be taken to keep an eye on the baby’s health during the later stages.

“I’d like the hospitals to introduce third trimester scans in addition to the first and second trimester checks,” she said.

“They have them in many countries now, but not in the UK.

“Mothers go through half their pregnancies without a scan, and I’m sure if there was a later scan then many babies would be saved.”