‘A nightmare.’ Parents separated from newborns amid coronavirus share their stories

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have advised mothers with coronavirus to be separated from their newborns. That means some parents have gone several days or more than a week without seeing their babies.

Some of those parents have shared their stories with media outlets around the world.

Veronica Batton

A Missouri mother was unable to see her newborn baby for four days while she waited for her coronavirus test results, according to KSHB.

Batton told the TV station she had her daughter on her chest for three to five seconds before the infant was taken away from her.

“Although this has been a completely heartbreaking experience, I’m so excited for this moment,” Batton told KSHB prior to reuniting with her daughter. “I just really hope they can find solutions to these problems in the future.”

Test results for Batton eventually came back negative, KSHB reported.

Vanesa Muro and Oscar Carillo

This Madrid couple tested positive for the coronavirus, so they were separated from their baby boy for 10 days, according to AFP. Carillo was unable to be in the operating room with his wife.

While the parents quarantined at home, nurses at the hospital took photos of their newborn to send to the new mom and dad, according to CNN. Finally, baby Oliver tested negative and was sent home, CNN reported.

“I still haven’t been able to touch my son without gloves and with the sensitivity he would have had with his mother or with me,” Carillo told CNN. “We’re impatient for it to end, so we can hold him or give him a kiss.”

Muro said the ordeal has been “hard,” telling AFP Oliver has not met the rest of his family despite being born nearly a month ago.

“It’s difficult, but it will pass,” Muro told CNN. “Look, Oliver will be 1 month in a short time and then, we’ll go outside, meet his grandparents, his uncles. It’ll all just be a nightmare that we’ve been through.”

Gerald and Kiley Fadayomi

Because Gerald Fadayomi of Atlanta was waiting for his coronavirus test results to come back, he was unable to be at the hospital for the birth of his twin daughters, according to WXIA.

He got to meet his daughters two days later when his results came back negative, but a new hiccup arose the following week when the hospital’s NICU was shut down for visitors, USA Today reported. He and his wife were then unable to see the twins.

“They want to keep the babies safe — the staff at the hospitals safe — which we totally get,” Fadayomi said, according to WXIA. “It’s a real hard situation for everyone. But, unfortunately, we won’t be able to see the girls until they’re ready to come home.”

LaToya Jordan

At 38 weeks pregnant, LaToya Jordan started showing coronavirus symptoms shortly before giving birth, according to The Cut. She was separated from her baby while she was still in the delivery bed, the publication reported.

“They separated me from me from my baby,” she told The Cut. “I never saw her further than my knee. Not touching or seeing my child’s face, no skin-to-skin — I cried a lot about that.”

Jordan tested positive for the coronavirus, and when test results for her newborn baby came back negative, she was able to hold her daughter and bring her home — though she would have to wear a mask.

The new mother said the process felt inhumane and she felt almost like a criminal, The Cut reported.

What does the CDC say?

While it is unknown whether newborns have an increased risk for severe complications if their mother has the virus, the infant should be considered a person under investigation, the CDC said.

The mother should have a separate isolation room available after birth, the CDC recommends.

This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 11:27 AM with the headline "‘A nightmare.’ Parents separated from newborns amid coronavirus share their stories."