‘I Feel Like I’m A Miracle Walking’—Mom Gives Birth While in Medically Induced Coma for Coronavirus

In the week that followed, Primachencko began to recover, her body working overtime to heal itself from COVID-19, and childbirth. And miraculously, she made it to the other side.

“I feel like I’m a miracle walking,” Primachenko says.

On April 6, she was taken off of the ventilator after being intubated for 11 days. One look down at her body told her that her baby must have been born.

“Obviously nobody expected that I was going to get that sick, so no, absolutely not, I did not expect to deliver my child,” she said. “After all the medication and everything I just woke up and all of a sudden I didn’t have my belly any more. It was just extremely mind-blowing.”

She was later moved from the ICU — a major milestone in her fight against coronavirus. Doctors, nurses, and medical staff in the ICU sent her off with a standing ovation.

 

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HUGE DAY TODAY!!!! #praisethelord Still currently at the hospital, in isolation but today I graduated from the ICU to the floor’!!!’ 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼. Correction sadly I still can’t have any visitors because I still I am corona positive #coronasurvivor

A post shared by Angela Primachenko (@angela_primo) on Apr 10, 2020 at 5:54pm PDT

Due to COVID-19 protocol, Primachenko, who was released from the hospital on Saturday, has not yet been able to hold her daughter, Ava, who remains in the neonatal intensive care unit. Ava did not test positive for COVID-19, but her fighting mama is required to have two negative COVID-19 tests before she is allowed in the NICU with her daughter.

Her husband, David, and their 11-month-old daughter, Emily, did not test positive for COVID-19, so David has been able to hold Ava in the NICU.

 

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Baby Ava is still in the NICU and i still haven’t been able to see her in person 😭😭 . . but so thankful for amazing nurses who send me update photos!!! @jennifer_ristau2 was able to take a pic of my baby girl for me!!! CANT WAIT TO MEET YOU my little fighter!!

A post shared by Angela Primachenko (@angela_primo) on Apr 11, 2020 at 6:30pm PDT

Primachenko says the name Ava has the special meaning of “breath of life.” For this family, that special meaning could not be any more true given the circumstances in which Ava was brought into the world. “She’s our new little breath of life,” Primachenko said.

As she patiently awaits being able to hold her daughter for the first time, Primachenko says she hopes her story will be a beacon of hope for others during this difficult time.

“That there’s hope,” she said. “That even in the hardest days and the hardest times that there’s hope and you can rely on God and people and community. The amount of community and people that were praying for me is just unbelievable. I was blown away, and I’m so incredibly thankful.”