She has been on a ventilator for over two weeks.
A mother in the US is fighting for her life after testing positive for Covid-19, forcing her to have an emergency C-section.
In the middle of last month, Cierra Nicole Abbington-Chubb, from Florida, showed cold-like symptoms around 48 hours after her kids complained of headaches, stomach pains and fevers.
“She thought it was a cold,” said husband Jamal Chubb.
By July 21, he told his wife she should get tested for the virus. She was unvaccinated, and at 37 weeks pregnant, had been awaiting guidance from OBGYN groups and the US CDC on whether or not the vaccine was recommended for pregnant women.
Their endorsement of the vaccine came a week too late for Cierra, as her Covid test came back positive.
On July 24, Cierra was hospitalised as she struggled to breathe. She was diagnosed with Covid pneumonia.
Doctors told her there was a lot of stress on her unborn baby, prompting them to deliver her son by an emergency C-section two days later.
Within two days of the birth of the couple’s third child, Cierra showed further difficulty whilst trying to chat to her husband over the phone from her hospital bed.
“I’m talking and I’m saying, ‘Save your breath babe, we need you to fight,’ and she pans the camera over to the doctors and they’re putting her on a ventilator,” Jamal said.
Baby Myles is now at home with his dad and siblings and does not have the virus, but Cierra has been on the ventilator for over two weeks. She is also on an ECMO machine to help regulate oxygen levels in her blood and allow her organs to recover.
“I feel lost, I feel confused, I feel angry… I feel … the way I feel right now is like I’m running a relay race and every time I’m passing the baton I’m passing it to myself,” Jamal said of waiting for his wife to get better and return home.
Jamal posts regular updates on Cierra’s condition to Facebook and Tik Tok as she continues to fight the virus.
Currently in Ireland, it is believed that around 10% of Covid patients in ICU are pregnant women.
