Interesting story on pregnancy and COVID-19 with a heart-warming ending.
Expectant mother, on life support at UCLA Medical Center, survives COVID with her pregnancy intact
ABC-7 News LA
By Denise Dador
Sunday, September 19, 2021 6:47PM
Link:
https://abc7.com/pregnant-covid-baby-woman/11028786/
Snips....
SEAL BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- A pregnant Seal Beach woman survived a harrowing COVID infection after UCLA doctors took extraordinary measures to save her life and the life of her unborn baby.
In an interview with ABC7, Katie Pederson explained why she waited to get vaccinated and what she wants other expectant moms to know. When Pederson found out she was having a baby, very few pregnant women were getting COVID-19 vaccines.
"I was going to wait until my third trimester until it was more readily available and there was more information. I felt safe in my decision -- until I wasn't," said Pederson. Twenty-four weeks into her pregnancy, she tested positive for COVID. Her symptoms were getting progressively worse when she went to seek care at an Orange County emergency room.
----
Doctors said she's one of many pregnant COVID patients to need life support. During pregnancy, a woman's immune system is suppressed so as to not attack her fetus. This makes a pregnant individual highly susceptible to severe illness. "For the majority of patients, they end up having to be delivered while still on the ECMO machine," said Dr. Christina Han, an OB-GYN specialist. She said Pederson was one of the rare circumstances where doctors were able to take her off the heart-lung machine.
She is one very lucky woman, as is her child. We wish them both well.
KY......