A baby girl has died after being born prematurely and testing positive for Covid-19, after her mother contracted the virus in the weeks prior.
Earlier this month, pregnant mum Katie Leeming contracted coronavirus and began to become concerned after she couldn't feel any movement from the baby.
Just a matter of days later, the baby had to be delivered by an emergency operation, before testing positive for Covid-19 herself and tragically succumbing to complications of the premature birth.
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Katie, who works at Greggs bakery chain, had been isolating for around ten days with her two sons, Alfie, 4, and Charlie, 3, and her partner Lee Court, 25.
She wasn't sure whether the lack of movement was down to feeling unwell and contacted the day unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital to check.
At hospital, Katie was put on a machine which detected reduced movement and the decision was made to deliver her baby girl, 14 weeks early via an emergency cesarean procedure.
Baby Ivy-Rose was kept alive by doctors, before testing positive for Covid-19 around a week after her birth.
She then suffered further complications due to her prematurity, including a pulmonary haemorrhage and a brain haemorrhage.
The little one's health deteriorated rapidly on October 21 and she died a day later on October 22, in the arms of her mum and dad.
The couple's friend, 25-year-old Simone Threlfall, met Katie around five years ago in hospital, after they both had previous premature births.
Mum-of-three Simone has now set up a fundraising page to help the couple with the funeral arrangements.
Simone told LancsLive : "They're absolutely in bits at the moment and are being supported by friends and family and the bereavement midwives.
"A cold cot has been arranged for the family to make memories as it's better for the boys to spend a little time with Ivy-Rose rather than Katie explaining to them that her sister was coming and then is gone again so soon.
"We just want to make Ivy-Rose's send off as special as possible. It's been really difficult as they've had to keep Alfie off school with them so this more positive for the boys too if possible and help her two big brothers show their little rainbow angel off to the world.
"Her family will be massively appreciative of any contributions and I would love for this money, no matter how big or how small the donations are, to be able to help create the most beautiful send off."
To donate to Simone's Go Fund Me page, please visit here.
