Care in the Time of COVID

Sabrina and Thomas Hernandez with their new son, River Jean Hernandez, at the Ochsner Baptist NICU. Photo provided by Sabrina Hernandez

Sabrina Hernandez shares her experience with delivering a son while sick with the novel coronavirus

By Topher Balfer

A diagnosis of COVID-19 comes with its share of anxiety and uncertainty for even the healthiest of individuals, but for Sabrina Hernandez — who is asthmatic and, at the time of contracting the virus, was seven months pregnant — the stakes were even higher.

As soon as the pandemic started to spread across the country in early March, Sabrina and her husband, Thomas Hernandez, fell into a new routine that would minimize Sabrina’s time outside their home. She was able to work remotely, and Thomas handled all the household errands. The only place Sabrina traveled was to and from her aunt’s home to drop off her oldest son for daycare. It seemed a relatively low-risk arrangement; Sabrina’s aunt has multiple comorbidities for COVID and was exercising extreme caution as well.

“We live in a very small community, and my husband and I thought it would be safe if I only went to my aunt’s house to drop my son off and pick him up daily,” Sabrina said. “But on Monday, March 23, my aunt called me to ask if I could keep my son at home since she was having trouble with her allergies.”

Later that weekend, Sabrina’s asthma also took a turn for the worse but, like her aunt, she initially chalked it up to allergies. However, her symptoms continued to worsen, and Sabrina soon realized what she was experiencing wasn’t like her previous asthma attacks — instead of concentrated flare-ups, this was “a prolonged inability to breathe efficiently.”

Sabrina met with an allergist, who screened her for COVID and found that no other symptoms were present. At the time, rapid tests were not available, so Sabrina’s allergist modified her allergy and asthma medications and sent her home.

“By March 24, I had stopped being able to keep water down and was running

River Jean Hernandez photographed by Jennifer Daigle, friend to the Hernandez family and owner of Deja Vu Photography

a low-grade fever at night, along with the worsening breathing,” Sabrina said. “I only felt relief when taking albuterol treatments, and due to my pregnancy, the dosage and timing of the treatments were limited. I messaged my allergist, who told me to call my GP. I did her one better and called both my obstetrician and GP, who both demanded that I be tested for flu and COVID.”

Sabrina isolated herself in her bedroom while she waited for results, her condition worsening all the while. Nearly a week later, she learned that she’d tested positive for COVID-19, and her obstetrician urged her to visit Ochsner Baptist right away.

On the drive over, Sabrina called her aunt and informed her of the results. Later, after all that ensued in the coming days and weeks, Sabrina would learn that her aunt and several other immediate family members also contracted the virus, though none of them required hospitalization.

“Within hours of arriving at Ochsner, I had to be intubated,” Sabrina said. “I confirmed who my emergency contact was and texted my husband to tell him I wouldn’t be able to talk because I couldn’t breathe. From the moment I was intubated, I was not involved in my care.”

Sabrina’s survival — and the survival of her baby — suddenly rested in the hands of her doctors and her husband, who had to make decisions for her as Sabrina’s care team attempted to get her condition and blood pressure under control. Stabilization efforts continued for a week without effect. On April 9, Dr. Joseph Biggio, Jr., System Chair for Women’s Services and Maternal Fetal Medicine at Ochsner Baptist, advised Thomas that the best route forward was to perform an emergency C-section on Sabrina.

“Dr. Biggio explained to my husband that taking the baby would be best for both of us,” Sabrina said. “He said that all his colleagues agreed that once the baby was out, the mother improved. My husband gave them permission to do whatever they needed to save both my baby and myself.”

The emergency C-section was performed that day, and just as the care team anticipated, Sabrina woke up the next day feeling better than she had in a long time.

“I wasn’t out of the woods, but the scariest part for my family was over,” she said.

What followed were several weeks of recovery for both Sabrina and her “miracle baby” River Jean Hernandez. Sabrina and Thomas were able to video chat once she was awake, and upon her discharge at the end of April, they rotated visits to the NICU to spend time with River. By that point, their son was a month old and had never met either of his parents.

At the time of delivery — 11 weeks early — River weighed only three pounds, but Sabrina said her doctors and nurses made her feel so safe and secure that she never had to worry about her son’s well being.

“River is doing amazingly well, and is almost 8 pounds,” Sabrina said. “His success is mostly due to the amazing care he received at Baptist. I am sure of that. The NICU nurses were absolutely wonderful. We are still in touch with them every day. They were the most helpful and wonderful caregivers. I’ve often told people that with all the issues we went through, I never worried about who was caring for my son. I knew, in my soul, that he was in the best place.”

Of course, the path forward was not without additional challenges. Sabrina learned that her mother passed away the same day River had been born, a fact her husband and care team withheld at the time so as not to cause additional duress while she recovered. Sabrina continued to experience fatigue and muscle weakness once she returned home, making the hourlong trips to the hospital even more taxing.

However, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. River went home with his family on May 31, and both Sabrina and Thomas are looking forward to a happy, healthy life with their children. It might seem difficult to be optimistic after such an arduous period, but Sabrina said the experience has shown them just how resilient and united her family is. For teaching her that, she said the team at Ochsner Baptist can take full credit.

“Thank you for waking up everyday and putting yourselves on the frontlines and taking care of families like mine,” Sabrina said. “Thank you for caring for me, not just physically, but spiritually and mentally. Thank you for sending me back to my husband and sons. Life has forever changed whether we wanted it to or not, but thanks to you, I can go through it with my family together. I am forever grateful to the staff at Ochsner Baptist. Our city is lucky and blessed to have you caring for us. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

If you would like to support the Pandemic Response Fund at Ochsner Health, please visit ochsner.org/heroes.