WINDSOR, ONT. -- Every moment spent with their stillborn daughter was precious to the David family, even if time was limited.

The Davids are helping to give other grieving families more time to say good-bye by donating funds to purchase a CuddleCot for Windsor Regional Hospital.

“Even having family come visit, we were basically on a time limit. The hospital allows you to spend as much time as you need but you are racing against time with the baby,” Caitlin Collins David said in a WRH news release. “We missed out on having some of the family members meet her.”

Caitlin attended the hospital after she was unable to feel her baby move at just under 24 weeks. It was there she learned her baby did not have a heartbeat.

She went to the Met campus on May 1, 2019 to be induced, giving birth to Grace August David after 17 hours. Due to the death, she and her husband Adam were able to hold their daughter for only a limited amount of time.

Caitlin did some research after returning home and learned of the CuddleCot. The cot is a type of refrigerated baby bed that helps to preserve the body of the deceased newborn for days, allowing families more time to say good-bye.

She started funding raising the machine and set up a Facebook group “Grace’s Footprints” to help raise the $6,000 needed.

Caitlin said one of the most difficult parts was, “letting her [Grace] go, when I was not ready.”

The CuddleCot has arrived at the WRH’s Met campus in time for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month in October.

The hospital says there were 16 stillbirths at WRH last year.

“The Cuddle Cot slows the baby’s body deteriorating by regulating their temperature,” manager of the NICU Deborah Mayea-Parent said. “This will allow parents to spend precious valuable time to say both “hello” and “goodbye” to their babies. Sadly, we cannot change the fact that babies pass away, however we can definitely make a difference in the experience we provide the family during their grieving process.”

The CuddleCot can be used for stillborn, some late term miscarriages, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) along with deaths in the NICU.