Presumed first COVID-19 patient to give birth in Michigan and baby back home, healthy
MARSCHALL, Mich. — A mother ready to give birth contracted COVID-19, but was able to get home safe with her new baby and the rest of her family.
Staff at Oaklawn Hospital in Marshall said Mallory Pease is the first positive COVID-19 patient in Michigan to give birth.
“I definitely didn’t think that I would’ve contracted it, especially right before I gave birth," Pease said.
When the virus started spreading quickly throughout the United States, nine-month pregnant Pease was more concerned about others than she ever was about contracting the virus herself.
- COVID-19:Find the latest news on the outbreak in West Michigan by visiting the coronavirus page
Pease woke up March 14, 2020, with a sore throat. The following days brought a cough, and some aches and pains. Nothing too out of the ordinary for someone about to have a baby, she thought.
“It was hard to tell what was being nine-months pregnant, and what was actually sickness," Pease said.
By the end of the week, her condition got worse.
On Sunday, March 22, she went into labor, and called Dr. Summer Liston-Crandall.
“When I heard her voice sound so breathless on Sunday night without a contraction pain, that’s when I got concerned that this was something we really had to be cautious about," Liston-Crandall said.
“She was like, 'are you having a contraction, or are you just that out of breath?' And I was like, 'I can’t breathe'," Pease said.
Mallory and her husband, Mitchell, rushed to Oaklawn Hosptial.
“About five hours later, we had Alivia," Pease said.
The parents only got to spend about five minutes with their new baby, Alivia, before she was taken to the isolation nursery, and Pease to the COVID-19 unit.
Results came back the next day positive for COVID-19. Pease said that's when she was at her worst.
She spent the next four days away from her family, away from Alivia, only able to connect through FaceTime chats.
“Being away from everybody was the hardest part for sure, but I knew Alivia was in good hands, and I just kind of had to focus on myself," Mallory said.
Mitchell said he tried to remain positive, but found it hard at times.
“There’s a lot of ups and downs. There were just so many unknowns with this new virus, and there was questions we’d ask, and we couldn’t really get a good answer, because they didn’t have it," he said.
- People Helping People: 13-year-old prints 3D face masks for Bronson Hospital
Oaklawn OB Nurse Director Julie Smalley said a team at Oaklawn had a plan in place for Mallory, but it was hard to plan.
“We think we’re the first hospital, and Mallory's the first patient in Michigan to deliver being COVID positive, and so that being said, there was not a lot of information really to pull from and to guide what our plan was going to be," Smalley said.
That Wednesday, Mallory's condition started to improve, and finally, on Thursday, she was reunited with her baby and the rest of the family.
Olivia tested negative for COVID-19.
Mallory, Mitchell, Alivia, and their other daughter Emma Jean, are back at home, healthy, they said, thanks to all the nurses and doctors who found a way to make it work.
“It’s kind of hard to wrap your head around. It’s just one in a million I guess," Mallory said.
Mallory said she's thankful for the Oaklawn staff, and all of her friends and family who supported her.