Olivia was born at 25 weeks and weighed 635 grams.
The new mum was plunged into a profound shock that is usually associated with returned soldiers.
"I didn't realise that I was at risk too," she said.
"When they [the doctors] tilted the bed slightly ... I could hear my blood running off ... it was horrific, I ended up with a third of my blood volume," she said.
Ms Livesey-Giles cried when she first saw her daughter.
"I just started crying and apologising to her ... she didn't look like a baby, there were tubes and wires and everything," she said.