A pregnant woman gave birth to her son three months earlier than her due date after being left in a near-fatal coma by covid-19.
Kassidy Hazelton, from Arizona, delivered her son Kash on May 31, just a couple of weeks after she contracted Covid-19 after she refused to get a vaccine because she was pregnant.
Initially when the 37-year-old caught the virus, she developed pneumonia, ending up in a coma and forcing doctors to deliver her baby via an emergency c-section.Speaking to Fox News, Kassidy said she was unsure about getting the jabs because of possible side effects knowing fully well she was pregnant at the time.
She said: ‘Once my temperature started to get out of control, that’s when I started to get worried. I was scared.’
‘Vaccines were just released and I did not feel comfortable yet’, she said on a fundraising page set up to help with medical costs.
‘Within five months of pregnancy I contracted it and became very ill.
‘I had to be sedated and put in induced a coma while pregnant.’
With doctors scared she won’t make it, they decided to deliver her baby at just 28 weeks, almost three months early, by c-section.
‘They kept the baby in there as long as they could, but I wasn’t getting better and in order for me to survive or even him they had to take him out’, Kassidy said.
Kash weighed just under 1kg when he was born and was immediately rushed to a neonatal intensive care unit, where he will remain until at least his due date of August 20.
Kassidy added: ‘I was still in a coma when he was born.
‘This has been tremendously hard on me and our family.’
She survived and Kassidy came back from the coma. But her battle with Covid meant she was unable to meet her son until weeks after his birth.
Kash is still being closely monitored due to his premature birth and the pressure on his lungs
In total Kassidy remained in hospital for seven weeks and while she is ‘getting better every day’, is still suffering from breathlessness, along with PTSD and anxiety.
‘I can’t breathe at times and I’m concerned things will get harder’, she said.
?’Covid has wrecked my first pregnancy and I was very close to death. We’re very lucky to be alive.’
Kassidy added that she regrets her decision not to get vaccinated and has urged other mothers to make sure they take up the jabs when they’re offered to them.
‘Mothers need to take this seriously and there were mothers that did not make it… protect yourself and your baby because it can, and it will kill you’, she said.
‘Everyday I get told we’re miracles and I hate to think of it like that, but we really pushed through something unimaginable. I had a tracheotomy which they cut a hole.
‘I was knocking on death’s doors and I’m still shocked I’m here today.’
Scientists believe that pregnant women who contract Covid are at a greater risk of serious illness and pregnancy complications, including miscarriage and pre-term labor.