SPECIAL REPORT: Pregnant women at higher risk of severe COVID-19 symptoms
13 On Your Side's Arlette Yousif investigates how COVID and the COVID vaccine impact pregnant women
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA/KECY) - As COVID impacts everyone in one way or another, pregnant women are at a high risk of severe symptoms if they contract the virus.
Two women from Imperial County who share a bond of friendship, also share one of motherhood. Never did they think they would get pregnant during the pandemic.
Catching the virus was the worst fear turned reality.
Getting COVID is bad enough but getting it during pregnancy adds a whole other strain on a mother’s body as she nurtures her baby in the womb.
"I was seven months pregnant and it was towards the end of August, beginning of September when I had COVID. Second week, I kind of got to the point where I was having a little bit of issues breathing. It got the point to where I would stand up and I was just winded," says Yvette Reeves.
While Reeves is not vaccinated against COVID, Christina Lynch is.
"My last shot was in august of last year. And then I got, I found out I was pregnant in October and then I got COVID about three weeks ago, first week, first day of January, actually," explains Christina Lynch.
Lynch was due for her booster shot in February before getting sick.
"My biggest concern was when I had the fever and I had had the fever for at least over eight hours. There was a lot of shaking and all that," says Lynch.
Her husband is also vaccinated and didn’t have as many symptoms as Lynch. Even holiday visitors in their home who were not vaccinated did not have symptoms as bad as Lynch.
"COVID is bad news for the fetus because it's bad news for the mother," explains El Centro Regional Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Dr. Christian Tomaszewski, who is also the Chief of Staff and a Professor at the University of California, San Diego.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), women who contract COVID-19 during pregnancy are more likely to experience pre-term birth and stillbirth and can be more likely to have other pregnancy complications.
"Our first priority and any situation, whether it be infection, other diseases, trauma is take care of good care of the mother. If you take care of the vessel, the fetus will do well. That's your number one priority," says Dr. Tomaszewski.
Expecting mothers also qualify for monoclonal antibody treatment.
"The solution is, first of all, not to get exposed to COVID during pregnancy. And second of all is to make sure you're already vaccinated, but if you do get COVID, we still can use the monoclonal," explains Dr. Tomaszewski.
Reeves did just that when she went to see her doctor and received the Regeneron treatment.
"He gave me the IV treatment. Within the next day, I can breathe. I can actually stand up and not feel winded," says Reeves.
The CDC says just as nutrients transfer from mom to baby through the umbilical cord and through breastfeeding after birth, antibodies can transfer to the baby as well.
"[They] actually, gave us information at the hospital saying that, that he had, they did blood work and he had antibodies in him," explains Reeves.
Lynch is still early in her pregnancy.
"I was actually very concerned about getting a booster while being, so I was debating of whether or not to wait till after I gave birth," says Lynch.
Dr. Tomaszewski says he agrees with the CDC's recommendation that pregnant women should get vaccinated, especially since they are at higher risk of serious illness and death.
Since January 2020, the CDC reports over 170,000 pregnant women have contracted COVID, more than 28,000 hospitalized, and 270 died from the virus.
Although stillbirth was a rare outcome overall, women hospitalized during delivery who were COVID positive had an increased risk for stillbirth in the U.S.
Even a higher chance during the peak of the Delta variant.
"I do believe I had the worst of it. My husband, that was his second time getting covid. It didn't seem to affect him in the slightest. The other two were my parents and they were affected by it, but they recovered quickly and I still actually have a cough and sniffles from it, even though I'm negative, but I'm still being affected by it right now," explains Lynch.
Dr. Tomaszewski says antibodies from the COVID vaccine not only last longer than antibodies from contracting the virus, but they are also stronger and can help fight the virus better.
