Mom who gave birth while intubated with coronavirus makes ICU nurse godmother

A mother who gave birth while intubated because of COVID-19 named her intensive care unit nurse as her daughter’s godmother, ABC’s “Good Morning America” reported Wednesday.

Monique Jones, 28, from Ferguson, Mo. thanked her ICU nurse Caitlyn Obrock for caring for her while she delivered her baby in September by naming Obrock as her daughter’s godmother. 

Jones delivered Zamyrah Prewitt on Sept. 23 while the baby was at 29 weeks gestation and ended up weighing 2 pounds, 5 ounces. Prewitt was delivered through c-section at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, she told the show.

The delivery came after Jones tested positive for COVID-19 following feeling symptoms of chills and shortness of breath. She was hospitalized on Sept. 4 and intubated on Sept. 6.

“It was possible that I wouldn’t live — that’s all I was thinking,” Jones told “Good Morning America.” “They asked me if it was possible to take my baby out. At first I told them no, but I wasn’t getting any better.”

“I am happy and grateful that I’m still here but at the same time it’s still overwhelming,” she added.

Obrock, the ICU nurse, told the show that Jones was on high oxygen and anxious about being intubated, prompting the nurse to pray for her. 

Jones awoke during the first week of October and was later moved to a rehabilitation facility in the medical center. While she was there, Obrock fundraised $2,000 in baby gifts and held a baby shower for her. 

“It was to boost her morale,” Obrock said. “The way she started out motherhood with this baby was unfair and we wanted her to know how special and loved she is.”

After her birth, Prewitt was moved to the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and stayed there before returning to family on Dec. 10, according to “Good Morning America.”