Coronavirus-infected mom who gave birth while in induced coma holds daughter for first time
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A Vancouver, Wash., woman finally embraced her newborn daughter after successfully recovering from the coronavirus.
Angela Primachenko, 27, was 33 weeks pregnant when she tested positive for COVID-19. Eight days later, she was placed on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma while doctors at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center induced labor in a bid to protect her unborn daughter's life.
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Primachenko recovered but was unable to see her daughter, only meeting her via Facetime. The young girl has tested negative for the novel virus, but Primachenko had to wait for the all-clear — two consecutive tests taken 24 hours apart that are both negative — before she could hold her daughter.
That moment finally arrived this week, when on Wednesday Primachenko tested negative for the virus and was subsequently reunited with her new daughter.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Our little sunshine is doing amazing!” Primachenko wrote in an Instagram post after the reunion.
Primachenko and her husband, David, named their newborn daughter Ava, which means breath of life, she previously told local news station KPTV.
“We did not expect to go down this road, but she ended up being our little breath of life," the new mom said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After 17 days in the hospital and 10 days intubated on a ventilator, Primachenko was cleared to go home last weekend. However, Ava currently remains in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
According to Primachenko, Ava is "doing amazing" and is gaining weight "like a champ.” She hopes to welcome the newborn home this weekend, she said in a recent Instagram post.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Speaking to KPTV, Primachenko said she was shocked when she came out of the medically induced coma and realized she was no longer pregnant.
"I wasn’t sure where I was. I was very confused. I didn’t have a belly anymore, [and I] didn't know where my baby was. I was in isolation [and] hadn’t been able to see my husband," Primachenko recalled.