A family whose daughter was stillborn are now helping to fund research into a little-known condition which affects pregnant women and played a role in her death.

Alicia Baker passed away less than 24 hours before she was born in August 2017.

Her mother, Katherine Baker, was suffering from polyhydramnios during her pregnancy – a condition caused by excessive amniotic fluid in the uterus which can make stillbirth up to ten times more likely.

However, Mrs Baker was never warned about the increased risk of stillbirth.

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Other than standard induction plans for all pregnancies, no plan was put in place to protect Alicia.

The baby girl was born at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow at 40 weeks and four days, with paediatric pathology reports confirming she died less than a day before being born.

Had Mrs Baker been offered an induction at 39 weeks, her daughter would, according to experts, most likely have survived.

The Baker family secured a settlement from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde with support from law firm Slater and Gordon.

As a legacy for Alicia – who would have been seven on August 28 - Mrs Baker and her husband, Graham, are donating their compensation to fund a PhD at the Manchester-based Tommy’s Stillbirth Research Centre to increase understanding and awareness of the condition.

Mrs Baker, who has an older daughter, Sarah, and Lucy, who was born after Alicia, said the bereavement "changed everything" for the family. 

She said: “Other than our treasured life with Sarah, life became nothing more than survival. We had no idea what sadness or pain was until we lost our little girl.

“There came a point where we knew outside of our life with Sarah, we had to decide whether to give up or keep going.

"We chose to keep going, and now, almost seven years later, we have become used to the ‘new normal’ that we are a family of five, but only four of us are here.

“Slowly you learn to keep going and pick up the pieces, but it was so important to us to do whatever we could to make sure this didn’t happen to another family, and create legacy for Alicia.

“Getting compensation was never about the money, and we wanted to use it in the most meaningful way we could.

"Being able to fund this PhD means everything to us.”

Baby Alicia was delivered at the QEUH in August 2017 The idea for the PhD came after the couple, from Glasgow, discovered the lack of awareness and research that existed around polyhydramnios. 

Although Mrs Baker also had the condition in her first pregnancy with eldest daughter Sarah, she was allowed to progress past 40 weeks.

Fortunately Sarah born was healthy.

Mrs Baker said she would like to see guidelines changed so that parents are informed of the risks and can consider an early induction. 

She said: “We now know we were ten times more at risk of stillbirth, but this knowledge was not shared with us and would not be still to this day.

"To know Alicia would probably have lived had decisions around our care been different is beyond words and to this day it makes us want to scream.

"It terrifies us to know this condition was also present with our oldest daughter, and we weren’t aware of the risks of losing her either.

“Research into polyhydramnios is very much needed, and that will be crucial in making changes in practice.”

Professor Alexander Heazell, clinical director of the Tommy’s Stillbirth Research Centre, said:  "We hope that research to help us understand why some babies with polyhydramnios are at high risk of stillbirth will help us to better counsel parents about birth and to identify babies at greatest risk of complications."

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Sarah McWhirter, the principal lawyer and clinical negligence specialist at law firm Slater and Gordon who team secured compensation for the Baker family, said they had suffered an "absolutely devastating" loss. 

She added: "Had they been given appropriate warnings about the risks of polyhydramnios, the outcome would most probably have been very different.

“The fact they are using their own heartbreak to help ensure a different outcome for other families is poignant.

"By funding a PhD, this will help to create a new evidence base to ensure expectant mothers in future are given the information and support they need.

“Through this extremely benevolent act, Alicia’s memory lives on in the most positive way possible – helping to save lives and improving education for both medics and parents about a little-known condition which can have the most devastating consequences.”