A Houston-area mother got to meet her newborn son last week after spending more than a month hospitalized in a fight against COVID-19.
Chequile Pettaway spent weeks in a medically-induced coma after testing positive for the virus one week before her baby’s delivery date.
Pettaway was admitted into a Houston hospital on Aug. 1, where, the next day, she gave birth to her son, Karter. Two days after the delivery, Pettaway was put into a medically-induced coma to help stabilize her organs as she fought the virus. She remained in the coma for three weeks.
“I never got to hold him,” Pettaway told ABC 13. “It was sad because I never got to bond with my son,”
But, weeks later, on Sept. 21, she was able to hold and kiss her son. “I started crying happy tears because I missed him,” said Pettaway. “It was a good day that day.”
The then-mom of three was not vaccinated, and she has since admitted she should have listened to her doctors and been immunized.
“I didn’t want to get vaccinated while pregnant,” said Pettaway. “I didn’t know how that was going to affect him.”
The recovering mom’s sister has launched a GoFundMe campaign for her.
In a statement last month, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote, “CDC encourages all pregnant people or people who are thinking about becoming pregnant and those breastfeeding to get vaccinated to protect themselves from COVID-19.”
“The vaccines are safe and effective,” she maintained, “and it has never been more urgent to increase vaccinations as we face the highly transmissible Delta variant and see severe outcomes from COVID-19 among unvaccinated pregnant people.”
According to the CDC, “the known severe risks of COVID-19 during pregnancy demonstrate that the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant people outweigh any known or potential risks.”
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