Living in a global pandemic is hard enough, but how about giving birth in it?

It’s enough to have to go through labor wearing a mask, but it says nothing of having to protect your new little family member with no immune system from getting it. How terrifyingly stressful.

For one mom, Miolly Grantham, this was a brutal reality. When she went into the hospital to have her third child, she didn’t expect to come home to one of her worst nightmares.

It turns out, her daughter Parker had been exposed to the virus while Molly was at the hospital. It took her three days (after hugging and kissing her new baby sister Hobie) for her to show any symptoms. But when she did, that’s when the panic happened.

She only had a sore throat and some popping of her ears, but Molly figured that, though scary, getting tested for COVID-19 was better safe than sorry. And even though her other child, Hutch, wasn’t showing symptoms, she decided to get him tested as well.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Our whole family has COVID. That’s a direct way to say it, but I don’t have any bandwidth left to beat around the bush. The health department tells me Hobie is the “youngest tested and youngest presumptively positive case in Meck County,” but of the five of us, he’s the one who came out most unscathed. As a family we’re crawling out of the woods and — please know — all of us will be okay. I felt it was important to write more details about what we’ve gone through the past two weeks to be transparent and honest with the many of you who kindly care… and… even more… in case our lessons learned can help you. Personal stories often resonate more than scientific facts. READ >> http://tinyurl.com/BlogCovidPositive (link in bio). Few pictures here of the masked-up way we’ve been living inside our own home. Last photo ➡️ is me watching my 10-day-old get a nasal swab from a nurse practitioner covered in protective gear, while his sister tried to calm him without being able to touch him. I, meantime, was in a separate car reviewing chest x-rays that showed nodules on my lungs. This virus is real. You can have an opinion on how to handle it, but don’t politicize the virus itself. It’s a public health issue. I’ve been petrified watching my kids get sick, while caring for a newborn. It’s a public health issue. Period. More in link. -Molly

A post shared by Molly Grantham (@molly_grantham) on Aug 2, 2020 at 5:34am PDT

Well, it turns out that Parker had tested positive for the virus. And while Hutch was negative, the healthcare professionals told her that it could’ve been a false positive. That was especially after Molly’s husband, Wes, also started showing symptoms of the virus.

Molly soon realized that she herself wasn’t exactly feeling like a million bucks, but she simply chalked it up to postpartum life. But when a nurse told her she needed to get tested to protect Hobie, she did—and she had coronavirus, too. She also had pneumonia!

Of course, Hobie also had to eventually get tested, but his test came back negative. And Molly says that after all of her family members finally recovered, he never showed any symptoms. So hopefully the littlest human got away scot-free.

Molly does want to note some of the takeaways she learned after nearly her entire family came down with coronavirus that she wants others to know. Her are the thoughts below:

– You don’t need to have a fever.

– One family can have totally different symptoms.

– Parker: Allergies and a fever.

– Wes: No taste/no smell, lethargy.

– Hutch: Cold and runny nose.

– Me: Body aches, shortness of breath, headache.

– Seems newborns aren’t getting it very often.

– Hobie remains—so far—unscathed.

– Kids are not immune.

– Read again: Your children are not immune.

– No matter how careful you are…anyone can be exposed.

– Other side effects can appear.

– Get checked. Don’t wait.

– Don’t assume it’s something else.

– This is not the flu.

– One big difference is the incubation period.

– Parker had it days before showing symptoms.

– We had no indication.

– She was around a handful of people.

– All were tested and (thankfully) negative.

You can read her entire story over on The Scary Mommy.

Do you know any entire families who have gotten the virus? What kinds of precautions are you taking to limit the spread?