Woman delivers baby while intubated with COVID-19 in ICU

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    FERGUSON, Mo. (KMOV) — A Ferguson woman is lucky to be alive after delivering her baby while intubated with COVID-19 at BJC in September.

Monique Jones was admitted to the ICU on Sept. 4, after not feeling well and struggling to breathe.

“When I started getting shortness of breath, they put me on oxygen,” Jones said. “But then I was getting worse and they moved me to the ICU.”

When she was admitted, Jones was 26 weeks pregnant with her second child. As her condition worsened, she said doctors approached her about signing a consent form, allowing them to deliver her baby in the case of an emergency.

“They told me if I’m not going to get any better, they’re going to take my baby out and I told them ‘no,’ because I was scared,” she said.

Later that day, though, she said she reversed course, giving doctors permission to do what they needed to do to keep her baby alive.

“If I had to lose my life to save another, that’s what I would do,” she said.

Shortly thereafter, Jones was intubated and required ECMO, a process that replaces the function of a person’s lungs. Making matters worse, she had been diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a potentially dangerous pregnancy complication related to high blood pressure.

“My blood pressure was getting really high and they had to try to slow it down but they couldn’t,” she said. “So that’s why they took my daughter, they took her out at 29 weeks.”

Originally, Jones’ care team was hoping to wait until the baby was 32 weeks before delivering, but Jones said her life depended on delivering her baby.

“Basically my daughter saved my life,” she said. “They had to take her out to help my condition.”

Zamyrah was born on Sept. 22 weighing two pounds, five ounces. She was taken to the St. Louis Children’s Hospital NICU where doctors monitored her around the clock.

After the birth of her daughter, Jones’ condition began to improve.

“I woke up and thought they were going to take the baby out later that day,” she said. “I had no idea I had delivered her until I woke up.”

After a nearly five week stay at the hospital, Jones was sent to an inpatient rehab facility, where she said she re-learned how to walk. While in the hospital, she was medically paralyzed because of the combination of drugs and treatments she was receiving.

While in rehab, several of Jones’ nurses and physicians from BJC threw her a baby shower, complete with enough diapers for a year, outfits, a car seat, stroller and more. The group also raised $2,000 for Jones and her family.

“I feel so blessed,” she said. “I didn’t expect any of this and it’s overwhelming. She doesn’t need anything else. They have it all covered.”

Zamyrah is still spending time in the NICU, where Jones visits her often. Now 2-months-old, she weighs five pounds and continues to grow stronger, according to her mom.

“I felt like I wasn’t going to have my baby, I felt like she wasn’t going to be alive,” Jones said. “So I want people to take COVID-19 seriously and I also want to spread positivity that you can beat this, but you have to fight hard. That’s what I did.”

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