The lucky mother met her newborn baby for the first time more than two months after giving birth. The fortunate mother was fighting for her life against the Coronavirus while under sedation and breathing with the help of machines. The mother also said that she had not been vaccinated against the virus and was planning to get the shot after giving birth. She said that she was nervous about the vaccine potentially causing complications for her pregnancy,
The mother from New Hampshire, Macenzee Keller, was reunited on February 3 with her newborn son Zachery.
The mother said she tested positive for COVID two weeks before her December 7 due date, the Associated Press reported. Keller also said she was suffering from a shortness of breath and remembered leaving her apartment on November 27 to go to the hospital but can’t recall anything after.
According to reports, the lucky mother reportedly gave birth through an emergency cesarean section the next day while sedated and intubated at Catholic Medical Center in New Hampshire. She was then transferred to another medical center and was put on a specialized blood oxygenation treatment while still sedated.
Blood was pumped out of her body into an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, ECMO for short, which removes carbon dioxide, then pumps the blood back into the body, per reports.
The mother also said that she had not been vaccinated against the virus and was planning to get the shot after giving birth. Keller also said that she was nervous about the vaccine potentially causing complications for her pregnancy, the Associated Press reported.
The mother reportedly spent 47 days on the specialized blood oxygenation treatment and has since returned home. One of the physicians handling her treatment had read research saying recent post-partum patients benefit from extended time on ECMO. The mother also said that she’s not sure whether she would have opted to get the vaccine in hindsight.
Macenzee Keller reportedly said: “I don’t know. Part of me says I would have got the vaccine, but then another part of me still says that I didn’t want to risk anything.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for people who are pregnant, and that the benefits of receiving the vaccine outweigh any known or potential risks of vaccination during pregnancy.