Reading Articles: These stories of mothers reunited with babies born during COVID-19 will make you ?
As a respiratory therapist, Angela Primachenko likely would have been on the front lines of the fight against coronavirus, but the pregnant health care professional’s obstetrician advised her to stop working as the pandemic spread.
She left work in February while in her third trimester, but somehow, in late March she came down with a fever and was admitted to the same hospital where she’d recently worked, Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center in Vancouver, Washington. Eight days later she was on a ventilator and in a medically-induced coma. She was 33 weeks pregnant.
Primachenko’s husband David and her twin sister, Oksana Luiten, were incredibly worried, and now they are incredibly relieved. Primachenko pulled through, and the mom of two says she is “living a miracle” as a coronavirus survivor. But she didn’t just survive COVID-19—she gave birth while fighting it—and this week she was reunited with her baby.
“Our little sunshine is doing amazing!” Primachenko wrote on Instagram Thursday after a series of negative COVID-19 tests meant she was allowed to finally meet her daughter, Ava, in the NICU. According to Primachenko, little Ava is expected to be discharged this weekend.
Its been more than two weeks since Primachenko’s second child was born on April 1, but Primachenko had no idea that even happened because she was still in the coma, fighting COVID-19. When she woke up on April 6 her belly was gone, and she learned she’s given birth nearly a week earlier.
“It was truly a miracle,” Luiten tells Motherly of her twin sister’s survival and Ava’s birth.
“She remembers looking down and not seeing her baby bump, she was scared, but the nurses and staff were the sweetest and they made her an ‘it’s a girl’ sign and they assured her that her little girl was doing well.” Luiten says.
The twin sisters were able to reunite a few days ago, and can’t wait until the day they get to hang out together with Ava.
Primachenko was released from the hospital last weekend after 17 days in the hospital (10 of those spent intubated) and says she is so grateful for Ava’s birth, even if she can’t remember it.
She calls Ava her “little fighter” and credits hospital staff with keeping mother and daughter alive.
Primachenko isn’t the only mama recently reunited with her baby after beating this illness. There is a lot to be thankful for right now, as this next story proves.
Reading Articles: These stories of mothers reunited with babies born during COVID-19 will make you ?
