Labor and delivery during a pandemic is proving to be incredibly challenging and stressful for many parents. For a couple in Clarkston, Michigan, Jennifer and Andrew Laubach, it was especially stressful, given that they were welcoming twins — and they both tested positive for COVID-19.
Jennifer was battling symptoms the day before her water broke -- eight weeks before her due date, according to the Detroit Free Press.
So was dad-to-be Andrew, who was contending with a violent cough and gasping for air. It was for that reason that Jennifer hopped in the driver's seat as the pair headed to the hospital. On their way, they received word from their doctor that Andrew had tested positive for COVID-19, so he wouldn't be able to accompany his wife.
"When I dropped him back off at home, I was worried that I might not see him again," Jennifer told the newspaper. "I was afraid he was going to die in his sleep, and he was all by himself."
She told Andrew she loved him as he got out of the car, but all he could do was nod.
The expectant dad was heartbroken.
"I thought, 'I know I'm going to miss the birth of my children. But I'm on the brink of death,'" the dad-to-be told the Detroit Free Press.
When Jennifer got to the hospital, she called Andrew to tell him to call 911.
An ambulance arrived at the house, and EMT workers checked his oxygen levels, concluding that they were acceptable, so he wasn't a good candidate for a hospital bed.
"It was the virus, me, God and the cats," Andrew recalled to the Detroit Free Press. "There were a couple of times it was touch and go. It was scary. … I knew that I was one push away from where it could take me out."
Thankfully, the dad-to-be made it through the night.
Meanwhile, Jennifer was being tended to by the staff at Troy Beaumont Hospital. She had to wait for an isolated room, because she was considered to be presumptively positive for COVID-19, according to Good Morning America.
"My maternal instinct just kicked in, and I didn’t want to cause undue stress on myself or the babies so I just tried to remain calm," Jennifer told GMA.
Soon, Jennifer welcomed twin boys she named Maksim and Mitchell.
The newborns were immediately whisked away to a quarantine newborn intensive care unit, because of the risk of COVID-19, and Jennifer was not able to hold them, GMA reported.
In turn, the new mom was facing various physical and mental struggles.
"I was isolated again from my family and friends and couldn’t see my babies, and I was going through some postpartum depression I’m sure," Jennifer, who tested positive for COVID-19 after giving birth, told GMA. "My nurse stayed with me throughout the entire first two nights I was in the hospital. I didn’t have anyone else."
It would take the couple three weeks to recover. On April 23, they got the green light to see their boys.
While wearing face masks, the couple met their sons, who both tested negative for COVID-19, in the NICU.
Mitchell, who weighed 4 lbs., 3 oz. at birth, went home from the hospital with his parents Saturday, GMA reported. His brother Maksim, who weighed 3 lbs., 14 oz., has been on a ventilator and feeding tube in the NICU but is now off of both of those and making progress toward coming home, Jennifer told the news program.
The bottom line for the proud mom: "I just want people to take this virus seriously," she told 'GMA.'
"Don't take your loved ones for granted, that’s for sure," she said. "My heart goes out to all the people who don’t have a happy ending."
CafeMom reached out to Jennifer Laubach for comment and was told the couple is no longer doing interviews as they are focusing on the care of their newborn sons.
