A grieving mother from Bristol has waited more than two months for the results of a post mortem before she can hold her dead baby's funeral.

Tracey Heal, aged 21, from Hanham, was devastated when her newborn baby, K'ci Freya Wilsher, died in intensive care at St Michael's Hospital on November 19 last year.

Miss Heal was due to give birth on November 28 but was rushed into hospital for an emergency caesarean on the 17 because doctors were concerned about the lack of movement of her baby in the womb.

Miss Heal was told by hospital officials it could take six weeks before the results of the post mortem investigation are known.

However, two months later Miss Heal and K'ci's father Matthew Wilsher have only just been informed that the results are back and have to wait more than a week for an appointment to discuss the findings.

Miss Heal said: "I don't think it's properly hit us yet, it's all been so much to take in.

"Me and Matthew can't grieve properly and move on until we are able to hold a funeral for our baby girl and put her to rest. It's quite upsetting.

"Without wanting to sound nasty I want to bury K'ci so that me and Matthew and our families can take a step forward in our grieving. We don't want to forget her but at the moment we are being kept on the same step.

"Although the post mortem results are back we have to wait until January 30 for an appointment to discuss them with the consultant.

"At first we were asked if we would like a post mortem and got told it would take six weeks.

"Then it was left at that. At my six week check-up appointment I asked if the results were back and I was told they were not.

"Since then I have basically been chasing them. I have rung a couple of times.

"Every time I called I had to explain the whole thing to a new person, which was difficult, and I didn't really want to have to do that.

"I even got my mum to call a couple of times because it is so hard to talk about K'ci without getting upset.

"In November 2007 I had a miscarriage at 14 weeks and when I found I was pregnant again in February I thought "wow this is perfect".

"But this is the second Christmas and New year I have had to spend in misery after losing my child.

"As soon as we know the results we can start making funeral arrangements.

"I just want it all over with now."

Miss Heal, who is on income support, was supposed to move into a privately rented three-bedroom flat with K'ci on December 14 - her first place of her own.

Instead she moved into the new home alone.

Although the University Hospital Bristol NHS Foundation Trust say K'ci's body was available for burial earlier, it would not have had all tissue samples returned and Tracey and Matthew wanted her body to be whole before putting K'ci to rest.

"I'm going through enough grieving for K'ci without the stress of having to wait two months to find out why she died before we can bury her. I really could have done without having had all this extra stress.

A spokesperson for University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, which runs St Michael's Hospital, said: "We can't discuss the details of individual cases because of our duty of confidentiality to patients and their families.

"Generally, post mortem examinations and subsequent tests are carried out as quickly as possible and the results discussed with the next of kin, usually within three to four weeks.

"This can take time because pathologists have to be sure that the results are accurate to give parents as much information as possible.

"Sometimes, if a specific condition or syndrome is suspected or multiple organs have to be tested, the process can take much longer.

"This is always explained to the next of kin as part of the consenting procedure."

Because there are no paediatric pathologists in the area cases of this kind are sent to hospitals in other regions.

If a post mortem is arranged through the coroners office it is carried out at Great Ormond Street.

St Michael's hospital arrange post mortems through Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Accoeding a source at the coroners office in Bristol they stopped referring post mortems to Birmingham Hospital because of the volume of cases it handles.

Although the length of time for an investigation depends on individual cases and the circumstances of death.

A spokesperson for Birmingham Children's Hospital, said: "The length of time it takes to carry out a post mortem is dependent on the complexities of the tests that are requested of the pathologist, not where the pathologist is based."