New mother who gave birth during hospitalization with severe COVID-19 she reunited with her newborn baby, meeting him for the first time two months after his birth.
Mackenzie Keller, 20, of New Hampshire, gave birth to her son Zack by caesarean section on November 28, 2021, the day after she arrived at the hospital with COVID.
But the mother was critically ill and under anesthesia for the first time and was unable to see her son for the first time until February 3, 2022, after her condition improved.
“It was very emotional because I said to myself, ‘Oh, I finally have to see my baby I’ve been waiting so long to see,’ Keller told the AP.
Machenzi Keller, 20, gave birth to her son Zack by caesarean section on November 28, 2021, the day after she arrived at the hospital with COVID
Struggling to breathe, she was placed on ECMO and was drugged during and after his birth and was unable to meet with him.
Keller was diagnosed with COVID-19 two weeks before term.
Pregnant and unvaccinated, she was badly affected by the virus and suffocated on November 27 when she decided to go to the hospital – the last thing she remembers.
She was placed on a ventilator at Manchester Catholic Medical Center and her baby was delivered by caesarean section the next day.
Critically ill, Keller was soon transferred to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) before meeting her son.
She was held at ECMO for 47 days, which Kiaran Moloni, BSN, RN, the nurse who cared for her, said was “much longer than we’ve seen in the past”.
“There were times when we wondered how or if she would be able to recover, but in the last few weeks she has recovered incredibly,” he told the hospital. newsroom.
She stayed at ECMO for 47 days, but finally met her son on February 3.
He was then two months old and weighed 11 pounds, 13 ounces
Keller, who has not been vaccinated, said she now wants to be vaccinated and encourages others to do so.
Keller finally managed to get rid of the sedation as her condition slowly improved, but she said waking up was confusing.
“Do you know when you fall asleep somewhere and then wake up somewhere new?” And you like, “Wow!” That’s what I felt, ‘she said.
It took some more time for her to recover enough to meet her son, but on February 3, she had to hug him for the first time.
Zack was two months old at the time and weighed 11 pounds, 13 ounces.
“It’s a new experience, but I’m excited to be a mother,” Keller said. “He was big!”
She now wants to have been vaccinated during her pregnancy and encourages other unvaccinated people to get the vaccine.
“I’m definitely going to get vaccinated now,” Keller said. “Definitely get vaccinated. Being as sick as I was was definitely scary, and I don’t want anyone to go through that.
“It was very emotional because I said to myself, ‘Oh, I finally have to see my baby, which I’ve been waiting so long to see,'” Keller said.
She still uses a pulse oximeter to measure the levels of oxygen in her blood, and is also receiving physical therapy to help her walk again.
The doctors told Keller that he had to wait a few more weeks before he could do so.
The new mother is still improving, but she still uses a pulse oximeter to measure the oxygen levels in her blood. She is also receiving physiotherapy to help her walk again.
But until she fully recovered before COVID, her recovery is a bright spot for the hospital’s medical staff.
In the medical (intensive care unit) we have very difficult and often tragic stories, and so when we get one, when someone has recovered so amazingly and meets their child for the first time, it’s really special for us and one that really makes it easier. coming to work the next day, “Moloni said.
“It went from being completely dependent on the ECMO pump to being fully interactive in just a few weeks,” he added.
“My wife, we found out she was pregnant at about the same time, and it just made me very emotional to see everything Macenzee went through,” he said.