A California mother is warning other moms of the risk of being unvaccinated while pregnant in hopes that they will avoid the traumatic experience she endured after catching COVID-19.
Sarah Heyl, 32, was in her third trimester of pregnancy when she and her husband Matthew came down with coronavirus. At the time, her husband was vaccinated, but Sarah was not.
"Sarah was pregnant and we really didn't know if she should get vaccinated," Matthew said during a Sutter Health media event. "We decided to hold off, we wanted to be very careful with this pregnancy."
A few days after catching COVID-19, Heyl began to rapidly decline. "By the time I was admitted to the ER I couldn't walk, so I had to be in a wheelchair," she remembered. "I couldn't talk beyond a whisper to conserve oxygen. I had a cough that induced vomiting so I could only consume ice chips."
At Sutter Roseville Medical Center, Heyl's doctors were faced with a difficult decision: to treat Heyl while she was pregnant with limited medication or to conduct an early C-section. Due to her dire condition, they determined the best option was to remove the baby as soon as possible.
Heyl's daughter spent over 5 weeks in the NICU, but since Heyl was positive, she wasn't able to meet her newborn for 10 days. "That was a tough time. I would never want another mother to experience that separation where you can't see your child, you can't touch your child," she said.
For mothers-to-be grappling with vaccine uncertainty, Dr. William Isenberg, chief medical officer for Sutter Health, and Dr. Amy Riley, Sutter Health obstetrician, reassured that COVID-19 vaccines are safe at any time during pregnancy.
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