New Mom Delivers Healthy Baby After Fight With COVID -19, Takes Vaccine

Janet Lewin was in a happy place, she was expecting a baby boy and enjoying the different stages of her pregnancy, until she got to her fourth month and contracted the coronavirus (COVID-19).

“In the early part of 2021, I contracted the virus. At first, I wasn’t aware, it took me a few days to find out. I had been in a vehicle with a friend of mine. We were coming from work, she started sneezing and she mentioned that she had allergies, so I thought nothing of it at the time. I think that was about the Friday,” Ms. Lewin told JIS News.

“By Tuesday I had a doctor’s appointment. When I went to the doctor and checked my temperature, it was high, so they recommended that I go and do a COVID-19 test. I did the test and, of course, it came back positive,” the St. James resident said.

At that point, however, she noted that apart from her fever, she was not experiencing any other symptoms.

Within the next few days, she started to experience stuffiness. “I felt congested, I didn’t have any sort of cold, I did cough, but it was more of a dry cough,” Miss Lewin said.

She noted that she went into isolation, which started out fine; however, when the period reached the one-week point, it became a challenge.

“There is a difference between when you are intentionally keeping away from the crowd, versus when you are forced to. At the time, as well, to make matters worse, I was pregnant and I was worried about something happening to my child,” she said.

“Luckily, I was reassured that none of the studies, so far, had shown that it affected pregnant women in any negative way and I should be reassured that at least the baby would have the antibodies,” Ms. Lewin told JIS News.

She pointed out that throughout the period, she still remained alright, as she was not sick and she was not in any pain.

“The only thing that continued for the entire time was the stuffiness, and around the 10th day, I started to experience a loss of smell and taste, but that seemed to go in and out every other day. After about three days, they [sense of smell and taste] slowly returned; it wasn’t anything that stayed around for long,” Miss Lewin said.

The new mother added that, thankfully, she never got the full brunt of the virus, as she “never felt like I was too sick, or I was going to die”.

However, the mental aspect of the virus took a toll on her, especially because she was with child.

“The mental aspect of it was hard, simply because I was stuck in the house by myself, I was pregnant, I was having the usual pregnancy symptoms of being nauseous, throwing up and so forth,” she said.

“So [going through] all of that, compounded by the coronavirus, was not the easiest thing on me mentally, knowing that at the end of the day if something were to happen, no one could really come to my assistance, people having to drop off food and my partner wasn’t here, so it was very difficult. At the end the day, however, I am grateful that it wasn’t as bad on me physically and I had people who were encouraging me, friends who were always checking in on me. That, of course, is always important to have – that supportive community,” she added.

Ms. Lewin, who recently gave birth to a healthy baby boy, has since taken the COVID-19 vaccine.