By Cam Lucadou-Wells
THE silence that greeted Ava Torcasio’s entrance into the world still haunts her mother Lucia three years on.
All had gone apparently smoothly during Ms Torcasio’s 40-week pregnancy.
“We had heard our baby’s heartbeat the very day before, and we felt her move that evening before we went to sleep,” Ms Torcasio said.
“Arriving at the hospital, we soon learnt that her beautiful soul had somehow slipped away during the night.”
Ava was still-born on 23 September 2013.
“Her silence was the most haunting memory from that day, and it will stay with me forever,” her mother said.
In memory of Ava’s third birthday, a $6000 cuddle cot was crowdfunded and donated to St John God of Hospital, Berwick by Ava’s family on 16 December.
A cuddle cot is a cooling system designed for a small cot. It had allowed Ava’s family to spend a precious 24 hours with her after her birth.
In that time, a family portrait was taken with Ava and moulds of her hands and feet were made. Her fingerprints were immortalised in jewellery.
“If it weren’t for the cuddle cot, we would not have been able to spend those precious hours with our angel, and would not have had the opportunity to keep a little piece of her forever,” Ms Torcasio said.
She says that without a cuddle cot, many deceased babies are taken to mortuaries within hours of birth.
She hoped it would make a difference for some of the 2000 bereaved families of still-born families in Australia each year.
“It’s important to us to get more people talking about still births as it’s such a taboo topic,” Ms Torcasio said.
“And it shouldn’t be.”
The fund-raising was supported by Australian non-profit group Bears Of Hope Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support .
