LONG ISLAND, New York (WPIX/ CNNewsource) — A mother delivered her baby while suffering from COVID-19 and in a coma. She was able to finally meet her son for the first time Wednesday.
Yanira Soriano, 36, went to the hospital with difficulty breathing and contractions when she was 34 weeks pregnant.
She tested positive for coronavirus and suffered from low oxygen levels.
Doctors decided to put her into a medically induced coma in order to place her on a ventilator.
Her son Walter was delivered through an emergency c-section while she was unconscious.
Soriano spent eleven days on a respirator in a medically induced coma.
Nurse Denise Scheidel, who was there when Soriano went into the operating room, just happened to be in the ICU when Soriano regained consciousness.
“I was helping someone with a problem and I just noticed those big brown eyes looking back at me,” said Scheidel. “I was like, ‘I know you!’”
Soriano was finally well enough to come off the ventilator on Monday. On Wednesday, she was well enough to go home with her son.
She rolled out of the hospital in a wheelchair as dozens looked on. Her husband was there, holding their 12-day-old baby boy. As she took him in her arms, mother and son met for the first time to the raucous applause.
Walter tested negative for coronavirus, but doctors will continue to monitor him with tele-health visits.
