North Texas Mom Gives Birth To First Child After Battling Coronavirus, Spending 13 Days On Ventilator While Pregnant
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Pooja Charaniya was 23 weeks pregnant when she tested positive for COVID-19 and was transferred to the intensive care unit at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth.
She was intubated two days later.
"COVID-19 does not generally impose a direct threat to the fetus. But at only 23 weeks into the pregnancy the baby's survival would have been touch-and-go," said Bannie Tabor, M.D., maternal fetal medicine specialist on the medical staff.
Charaniya was treated with Remdesivir as part of a clinical trial and received two plasma infusions during the 13 days she remained in an induced coma and on a ventilator.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of pregnant women with COVID-19 who were hospitalized in the U.S. from Jan. 22 to Sept. 15 and required ventilation was very low. "This was a very rare case," Dr. Tabor said.
After her five-week bout with the virus, Charaniya finally recovered and was discharged on May 7 after testing negative for COVID-19.
Dr. Tabor continued to closely monitor her progress as an outpatient as she remained at home for the remainder of her pregnancy.
Two months after Charaniya's recovery, she returned to the hospital on July 22 and delivered a healthy baby weighing 5 pounds, 1 ounce.
"It's a blessing that we both recovered, but the journey was so hard," Charaniya said. "The nurses and doctors at Texas Health Fort Worth gave me and my baby a second chance at life, and there are no celebrations, baby showers or gifts that can replace that."