Mom Who Spent Weeks in Coma Battling COVID, Finally Meets Newborn

It took weeks but a Houston-area mother who had to be placed in a medially-induced coma can now celebrate the birth of her newborn.

Chequile Pettaway spent weeks in a medically-induced coma after she tested positive for COVID-19.

Pettaway was admitted into a Houston hospital on Aug. The next day, she gave birth to her son, Karter. However, just two days after the delivery, doctors put Pettaway into a medically-induced coma to help stabilize her organs as she fought the virus. She remained in the coma for three weeks.

“I never got to hold him,” Pettaway told ABC 13. “It was sad because I never got to bond with my son.”

On Sept. 21, Pettaway had the chance to hold her son. “I started crying happy tears because I missed him,” said Pettaway. “It was a good day that day.”

Pettaway was not vaccinated, and she has since admitted she should have listened to her doctors and been immunized.

“I didn’t want to get vaccinated while pregnant,” said Pettaway. “I didn’t know how that was going to affect him.”

Now, the mother is urging everyone to get the vaccine.

Since her release from the ICU, Pettaway has been going to rehab to relearn how to walk and use her arms.

“My kids are my motivation to get better,” she said.

Pettaway’s sister set up a GoFundMe page for donations to go toward the cost of rehab.

In a statement last month, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote, “CDC encourages all pregnant people or people who are thinking about becoming pregnant and those breastfeeding to get vaccinated to protect themselves from COVID-19.

“The vaccines are safe and effective,” she maintained, “and it has never been more urgent to increase vaccinations as we face the highly transmissible Delta variant and see severe outcomes from COVID-19 among unvaccinated pregnant people.”