Grieving parents have shared a heartbreaking photo of their baby daughter fighting for her life to help break the stigma of asking questions about baby loss.<br /><br />Aysen Genovese, 22, and her husband, Jacob, 23, were devastated when Ava was rushed to the NICU seconds after being born.<br /><br />She had a hole in her diaphragm - known as a congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) - which prevented her heart and lungs developing properly.<br /><br />Tiny Ava fought for her life for 12 days, hooked up to countless wires and machines - and powerful photos shared by Aysen show just how sick baby Ava really was.<br /><br />Ava died after her blood started clotting which caused her to have a stroke.<br /><br />The parents left the hospital alone and both needed counselling to process the "isolating and lonely" trauma of losing a child.<br /><br />Aysen, a dental receptionist, from Hesperia, California, US, now raises awareness of the trauma of child loss - so people around the parents know how to support them.<br /><br />She said: "It's isolating and lonely. My husband and I leaned on each other a lot.<br /><br />"It makes people feel uncomfortable to think a baby died, but if you're uncomfortable imagine how the parents feel.<br /><br />"I had high hopes for Ava, I imagined her being older and having more friends than I did in high school.<br /><br />"I imagined her being a cheerleader and getting fights with her dad over her getting a boyfriend."<br /><br />Despite their trauma, the parents say they are now trying to get pregnant again and are going through the processes of regulating Aysen's hormones once more.<br /><br />But they'll never forget their tiny daughter Ava - and urge people to "ask questions" of parents who have experienced child loss before.<br /><br />"Asking questions should be normalised," she said.<br /><br />"Ask me what she was like.<br /><br />"People never ask, but she deserves to be remembered."<br /><br />Aysen has polycystic ovary syndrome so was delighted when she got pregnant with Jacob, a US Air Forces recruiter.<br /><br />Her waters broke early at 36 weeks and Ava was born naturally on August 1, 2022, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, US.<br /><br />"I held her for a couple of seconds after she was born, then I didn’t get to hold her again until after she passed," she said.<br /><br />"I was the only one who got to hold her while she was still living - not even her dad.<br /><br />The hole in Ava's diaphragm meant her heart and lungs were pressed against each other, so hadn't developed properly.<br /><br />Her blood and oxygen flow were poor as a result, which led to a hole in her colon which was releasing air into her chest and belly, they said.<br /><br />The newborn was hooked up to machines and wires to keep her alive - where she lay for 12 days.<br /><br />Aysen said: "When you would walk into the room everyone knew she was a fighter.<br /><br />"This girl was fighting a lot more than what was visible.<br /><br />"But despite all the wires, everyone could see she had a very sweet personality already.<br /><br />"She was very sassy, and she would fuss at the nurses."<br /><br />On August 12 Aysen and Jacob were heading home from the hospital for the night when they were called back into the room.
