North Carolina mom finally meets newborn son two months after being hospitalized for COVID-19
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Having a baby is stressful enough.
For Takia Morrison, add on being stuck in the hospital with COVID-19 and being unable to meet her newborn for the first two months of his life.
"It was like I felt complete," Morrison said. "That's what kept the fight in me. I just kept telling myself I have to get back to my children. When she passed him to me and I seen him it was like, 'this is finally here. It's mommy, it's me. I'm here.'"
In early April, 31-year-old Morrison was admitted to the hospital with what they originally thought was just pneumonia before being diagnosed with COVID-19.
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At the hospital, she had a seizure and needed and emergency c-section and was later transferred to Duke University Hospital for life support.
"When I first woke up I didn't know where I was at," she said. "They told me I was at Duke which definitely put my mind at ease because I knew that Duke was a really good hospital but then I realized I was by myself and I was in the hospital. When I looked at the date on the board I realized it had been days."
Morrison said what kept her going was knowing her 10-year-old daughter and newborn baby boy needed their mother. Although she was alone in the hospital she says the nurses printed out pictures of her family and hung them in her room.
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"For the nurses to take the time to print out the pictures and put them in my room, they almost made me feel at home," she said.
"She's sitting there, she has a tube in her mouth hooked up to a ventilator," said Craig Rackley, a physician. "She's got blood flowing out of her body into this external lung, and she's awake and smiling and interacting with us. I think her personality and will was truly admirable and inspiring".
Craig Rackley who treated Morrison says for her to be able to leave the hospital with no oxygen and recovering is a testament to her age and being healthy.
"Most people who need the ECMO that she needed needed it for about seven to 14 days," said Rackley. "She was on it for 23 days. As she continued to improve, her spirits continued to improve. She's truly a tough and impressive young woman."
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After weeks of testing positive for COVID-19, this Monday the test finally read negative and Takia was able to return home to her two children making her appreciate being a mother that much more.
"It's real and it's deadly," Morrison said. "I can't believe people aren't taking it seriously but until you're affected by it you really don't take it serious. But it literally took over my body. I was so happy because it was like I'm making it I'm doing it."
