A South Florida mother who was pregnant during the pandemic shared her story and her struggle as she prepared to give birth in the midst of the uncertainty.
Aiden Castellanos was born in the middle of the pandemic to new parents Jay Castellanos and Alyssa Osorio.
"It was emotionally draining – the whole experience," Osorio said. "I stuck to the quarantine – didn’t get to enjoy my pregnancy with anyone. I was alone the entire time."
Osorio says the isolation was the toughest thing to deal with early on in the pregnancy. And then at five and a half months, she tested positive for COVID-19.
"When I saw that positive, I was so shocked," Osorio said.
Her symptoms -- fever, body aches and chills -- were easy enough to manage. But her pregnancy soon took a turn for the worst.
"I started bleeding," she said.
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She went to the hospital only 12 days after a positive COVID test.
"They told me they wouldn’t retest me because it had been only 12 days before," Osorio said. "I knew that meant if I was COVID-positive I would have to do that alone."
She fought for a retest and had an emergency C-section three days later.
"Thankfully, they did retest me and I was negative, and so my husband was there," she said.
That emergency C-section came after it was revealed she had an infected placenta.
Her son was born at 32 weeks – premature -- on Aug. 5, more than a month before his Sept. 28 due date.
"Thankfully he was a healthy baby but had to stay in NICU until he could feed," she said.
The tiny one-month-old is home now and weighs 6 pounds -- and he’s doing just fine. The pregnancy still fresh for the mom, who sometimes thinks about what she didn’t get to experience .
"My husband didn’t get to come to any of my apportionments with me," Osorio said. "It made it hard for me to go through that alone."
Their gender reveal was virtual. There was no pregnancy photoshoot or baby shower.
"There were many things I didn’t get from the pregnancy, but at the end of the day, I have a healthy baby," she said. "And that’s all you can really ask for."
