A heartbroken mum has shared distressing pictures of her her eight-week-old baby as she battles coronavrius.
Ashley Hildebrand is devastated after being separated from her tiny daughter Ellie while she fights Covid-19 in hospital.
Ashley and husband Sean have been told to self-isolate for two weeks to protect their newborn daughter.
The American family shared harrowing pictures of Ellie hooked up to a ventilator on Ashley's Facebook page in an effort to warn other parents not to be complacent.
Ashley said: "Soooo... Ellie has tested positive for COVID 19. Me and Sean have to self quarantine for 2 weeks without her. Please keep our family in your prayers during this difficult time."
Ashley's brave post was shared an incredible 103,000 around the globe with worried parents desperate to know what Ellie's symptoms were.
Ashley, from South Carolina, said: "She actually didn't really have any symptoms before hand. She was a little wheezy on and off for a few days, nothing alarming at all.
And her lungs sounded fine Tuesday at her 2mo (two month) check up. "On Friday morning she had a bottle and was doing tummy time. She rolled over and she seemed very constipated.
Then she screamed for a few minutes and then she stopped screaming and crying and stopped breathing efficiently.
"We called 911, when the ambulance got there her oxygen was at 58. While in the hospital she actually got hypothermic and they said that small babies will sometimes get cold instead of a fever.
"But Ashley said doctors did not think Ellie had coronavirus because "her symptoms did not add up", but they did a test simply to rule it out - and it came back positive.
The couple were then forced to leave their baby for her own safety and go home and self isolate.
Ashley added: " Our child is at the hospital, we are at home. And it hurts and it sucks and we miss her and love her very much.
"But just this week the couple were give a glimmer of hope, after medics told them Ellie might soon be off the ventialtor - and home to her parents.
Ashley said: :"They are starting to wean her off the ventilator and it should be all the way out hopefully in 1-2 more days. Then once we are confident in her breathing on her own, they will remove the NG tube and start her on bottles.
"Once she is used to taking bottles again and is eating good we will be allowed to bring her home to stay with us for the remainder of our quarantine."
