Heartbreaking moment a mother cradles stillborn daughter midwives failed to spot was critically ill

• Expectant mother's unborn child was critically under-developed
• Medical staff repeatedly told her it was 'nothing to worry about'
• Baby died in her mother's womb two days before her due date
• 'They played God with my baby's life and our little girl paid the ultimate price - her life', said mother Sacha Parsons
• Hospital admits responsibility and agrees to pay couple compensation
• Family releases heartbreaking photograph of mother's final embrace

Burying her face in the baby’s blanket, Sacha Parsons has her first and last cuddle with her beloved daughter.
The harrowing photograph captures the precious moments Miss Parsons spent with Anais after the infant was stillborn.
Just days before it was taken, midwives had told Miss Parsons that all was well with her baby. But it later emerged that they had missed vital signs that the foetus was critically under-developed.
By the time they did notice, it was too late to save her, and Anais died in her mother’s womb two days before her due date.

Heartbreaking: The harrowing moment Sacha Parsons cradles her stillborn daughter Anais who died in the womb two days before she was due to be born

Her parents released the heart-wrenching photograph yesterday as they told of their anger at how medical staff ‘played God’ with their child’s life.
‘Anais knew more love in her short stay with us than some children know in their lifetime,’ said Miss Parsons.
‘We just gazed at her all evening and wondered how we could have made something so beautiful and perfect.’
Following the baby’s death, the hospital admitted mistakes had been made. Despite the fact that the unborn child was under-developed, medical staff at Paulton Memorial Hospital in Radstock, Somerset, repeatedly assured the expectant parents that there was ‘nothing to worry about’.
Miss Parsons, 39, said: ‘They measured her as small and told me not to worry about it, played God with my baby’s life and our little girl paid the ultimate price – her life.
‘I despise them. Their lack of care took our wonderful baby away from us for ever.
‘They may have taken away our one and only chance of having a baby.’

Never forgotten: Sacha Parsons and her partner Andy Cassidy with a box of keepsakes to remind them of their stillborn daughter

A parent's worst nightmare: The tiny coffin containing the body of baby Anais, who died two days before her delivery date

If Miss Parsons had been induced or the baby delivered by caesarean and given specialist care, she may be alive today. Instead,  the child was so weak that she died in her mother’s womb two days before her due date and Miss Parsons was forced to go through the trauma of a stillbirth.
Following the ordeal, she was given a few heartbreaking hours to say goodbye to her daughter, and partner Andy Cassidy, 40, took this photograph.
The couple, from Chilcompton, had been trying for a baby for three years and suffered a miscarriage early in 2010. When Miss Parsons conceived again in September of that year, they were cautious, but doctors told them they were having a ‘textbook’ pregnancy and their confidence grew.
Following scans at 36 weeks and 38 weeks, three separate midwives told the couple that their baby was small, but said they did not need to worry about it.

'They may have taken away our one and only chance of having a baby.'

They later discovered that by the 40th week, Anais was five weeks behind on her development. It was only during the final check-up that a midwife raised concerns about the size of the baby and immediately referred Miss Parsons for a scan.
The following day, Miss Parsons felt some unusual movement and had a wave of nausea. She now believes this was the exact moment Anais died.
She said: ‘I remember feeling some very small movements in  bed in the morning, which was unusual. At lunch time, for about 30 seconds I felt quite sick and had stomach ache.
‘I just put this down to being due any minute. I now know this was her way of telling me the exact time she had gone.’

In the wrong: Earlier this year Wiltshire Primary Care Trust - which ran Paulton Memorial Hospital (pictured) at the time - admitted a breach of duty

Empty: Sacha stands over the cot of her daughter Anais at her home in Chilcompton, Somerset

Grief: The couple are to receive compensation after the hospital accepted responsibility

Miss Parsons didn’t feel any further movements all day so she went to the hospital for a check-up. She was referred to another hospital for a heartbeat scan, which confirmed her worst fears.
Miss Parsons said: ‘I didn’t look at the screen. Our lives changed  for ever from that second onwards.
‘I didn’t know what to feel or think and just lay on the bed with a blank mind. It wasn’t until I got my pyjamas and went into the bathroom to change that it hit me.
‘I could see my large bump in the mirror and knew we wouldn’t be taking our baby home. I then started crying and screaming and Andy came in to comfort me.’
Miss Parsons was induced the next day – the day before her predicted due date – and Anais, weighing 5lbs 7oz, was delivered.
After she was discharged from the hospital, Miss Parsons returned to spend some time with Anais. She said: ‘Andy and I hoped for a girl all along and we got our wish. She was absolutely beautiful and completely normal in every way.
‘I had to force myself with all my strength to put her back in her little white coffin.’
In March this year, Wiltshire Primary Care Trust – which ran Paulton Memorial Hospital at the time – admitted a breach of duty and that the midwives had been in the wrong. School finance officer Miss Parsons said: ‘To hear it officially and then to read that if action had been taken our baby would be here was heartbreaking.’
In a statement, Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which now runs the hospital, said it took full responsibility and was addressing the problems raised. It has also agreed to pay the couple an undisclosed amount of compensation.
Miss Parsons – who suffered another miscarriage in May this year – has reported the errors to the National Midwifery Council.
She is also campaigning for growth charts to be given a prominent position in maternity books to help prevent similar tragedies.