Moira relied on a ventilator to push air into her tiny lungs, 24 hours a day for nearly 4 months. Without it, she could have died within minutes.
Moira was due on 30 December 2021, yet on Father's Day, 5 September, just as Ashlee, Ben and their firstborn Lestat were planning movie afternoon, Ashlee's waters broke.
Ashlee was 23+3
"We thought we'd lost her. Most people told us that babies born under 24 weeks don't have much chance of survival. We were just thinking the worst," Ashlee said.
Ashlee and her husband Ben raced to hospital, where they discovered little Moira still had a heartbeat.
Soon afterwards, Moira came into the world. She came out fighting for her life.
"She was kicking and trying her hardest to breath, but she was still too small for that," said Ashlee
When a baby is born prematurely, their lungs aren't fully developed. They simply can't breath on their own and their only chance of survival is to go on a ventilator immediately.
That's exactly what happened for Moira.
When she was just a few minutes old, she had a breathing tube put in and was hooked up to a ventilator.
It sent tiny puffs of air into her lungs and was perfectly calibrated to deliver just the right amount of oxygen, at exactly the right pressure.
That ventilator was vital for keeping Moira alive.
Moira was taken straight to Mater's Neonatal Critical Care Unit, where she stayed for the next 124 days.
