Ohio nurse Megan Sites does not know she gave birth to her first son last week, as she remains sedated and on a ventilator due to complications from coronavirus.
Sites, 27, contracted the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and, despite her mild symptoms, was tested because she was 7 months pregnant, according to WDTN. Her condition deteriorated quickly over the next day.
“24 hours’ time, the way it progressed, it was mean,” her brother, Shaun Jeffries, told the outlet. “That’s the only way to put it: it was a mean virus.”
“Her lungs were just failing. In order to save her and her baby, they had to do an emergency C-section,” Jeffries’ wife, Kacie, said. “She doesn’t know that she had her baby and her baby was delivered at 29 weeks.”
When her condition worsened, Sites was initially sedated and put on an ECMO machine to help her heart and lungs work properly. She has since improved slightly and been put on a ventilator, but her husband Donny and daughter are unable to see her in the hospital.
“Never in a million years would we have thought our 27-year-old sister would be infected with this virus and almost lose her life,” Jeffries said. “People have got to take this seriously.”
The new baby, who has yet to be named, is doing well and has tested negative for coronavirus on two separate occasions. Donny was able to hold him three days after he was born.
As of Thursday morning, a GoFundMe page set up for Sites had raised more than $33,500 after setting an initial goal of $1,000.
“Our 27-year-old fun-loving, beautiful daughter, wife, mother, granddaughter, aunt, sister, niece, friend, nurse, Megan Michelle Sites needs healing prayers right now more than ever,” a description on the page, set up one week ago, reads. “She is a strong soul and has a lot of fight in her!”
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