New mom urges Manitobans to take COVID-19 seriously after baby born 6 weeks premature

Baby Keith Forbes made an early arrival late last month, whichhis 25-year-old mother describes as the scariest thing that's ever happened to her.

Alexa Forbes's water broke in the middle of a meeting at work six weeks ahead of schedule.

When she arrived at the hospital,she tested positive for COVID-19, making her one of about400 pregnant people in Manitoba to contract the illness so far, according to provincial data.

"I'm like, 'Impossible! I have no symptoms,'" she said.

Those symptoms appeared a couple of days later, including a bad cough, muscle aches and a high fever.

"I was just a mess," Forbes said.

She huffed in and out through a mask during 36 hours of contractions, made even more difficult due to her respiratory symptoms.Her oxygen levels dropped and her baby'sblood pressure shot up to a crisis-level range.

Keith was born on March 20, weighing in at fivepounds andfour ounces and withoutCOVID.

"That would've been a huge issue," said Forbes. "We lucked out."

WATCH | Alexa Forbes describes her diagnosis and baby Keith's birth:

Mom got 'hit like a wall' by COVID-19 in premature birth

4 years ago

Duration 2:35

Alexa Forbes says the birth of her baby Keith was one of the scariest things that's ever happened to her. Her water broke six weeks early, and in hospital she tested positive for COVID-19, despite being asymptomatic.

Even so, Keith spent the next 10 days in the neonatal intensive care unit, separated from mom and dad.

"I was just a wreck," says Forbes. "It was very stressful. They plopped him on my chest for maybe a minute and then immediately the NICU team rushed him away."

Forbes's doctor told her COVID-19 was responsible for her situation, Forbes said.She is sharing her story in hopes of encouraging Manitobans to get vaccinated as soon as possible,and to take the ongoing threat posed by COVID-19 seriously amid the province's third wave.

Prioritizing pregnant people for vaccine

Dr. Nathalie Auger,a physician epidemiologistat the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre, said Forbes's overall experience with COVID-19 makes sense given what's known now about the disease.

It's associated with a higher risk of preterm, stillbirth and pre-eclampsiawhichinvolves high blood pressure and possible organ damageaccording to a broad review of the research by Auger and others published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in January.

Those risksare why a growing number of expertsare calling for pregnant people to be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccination.

Pregnancy itself is a risk factor for more serious COVID-19 outcomes, and early signs suggest coronavirus variants seem to result in even more severe effects, says pediatrician and infectious diseasesspecialistDr. Anna Banerji.

WATCH | Pediatrician discusses risks of COVID-19 during pregnancy:

It's safer for pregnant people to get vaccinated than risk getting COVID, says Dr. Anna Banerj

4 years ago

Duration 2:26

Dr. Anna Banerj, an infectious disease specialist at the Lana School of Public Health and Temerty Faculty of Medicine in Toronto, says some pregnant patients are feeling anxious about COVID-19 and getting vaccinated. She says the benefits of getting vaccinated outweigh the risks of getting COVID-19.

Some pregnant patients have concerns about the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, she says. There's about a one in 250,000 chance of developing a rare but serious bloodclot associated with that vaccine, according to recent research. Clotting in Europe happenedprimarily in young women.

But an Oxford study suggests people are eight to 10 times more likely to develop a clot after contracting COVID-19 than from a vaccine. Banerji said the overall risk of dying of COVID-19 in Canada works out to around one in 1,500.

"It seems to be safer to get the vaccine, even if it's AstraZeneca," she said.

Health Canada approved AstraZeneca'suse for anyone aged 18 and up in February, and several provinces just expanded eligibility to those40 and up.

Pregnant people with COVID-19 are at increased risk of hospitalization and ending up in intensive care or on a ventilator, saidDr. Vanessa Poliquin, an obstetrician gynecologist and reproductive infectious diseases expert in Winnipeg.

WATCH | Dr. Poliquin on COVID-19 risk and vaccination:

Pregnant people should be prioritized for vaccine, says Dr. Vanessa Poliquin

4 years ago

Duration 2:17

Dr. Vanessa Poliquin is an obstetrician gynecologist and co-chair of the infectious disease committee for the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada. The association wants all pregnant people prioritized for vaccination, says Poliquin.

Poliquin isco-chair of the infectious disease committee for the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, which recentlycalledfor pregnant people to be prioritized for vaccines.

At least three provinces have already heeded that call Saskatchewan,New Brunswickand Ontario.

"There have been no signals of adverse impact of COVID vaccines on pregnancy, so I am of the opinion that every pregnant woman should be eligible for a COVID vaccine, given that we're entering a third wave," saidPoliquin.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization advises health professionals to do a risk assessment and inform patientsthere isn't much data yet on pregnancy andCOVID-19 vaccination, but still suggests the benefits outweigh the risks ofthe illness.

This week, Forbes was hospitalizedwith a blood clot in her leg. Doctors told her blood clots are a risk post-pregnancy, and that she was at higher risk because she had COVID.

She's still in hospital right now and she'll have to inject herself with blood thinners twice a day for the next three months.

She has the same attitude she did before: Shewould've "loved" to be vaccinated while pregnant, if she'dbeen eligible.

Forbes wants others to get vaccinated when they can.

"It's not about you. It's about other people like mewith low immune systems because we're pregnant. It's about your grandparents. It's about anybody with an immunocompromised system," she said.

"You have more chances of getting blood clots from something else than you do from these vaccines."

WATCH | Manitoba not yet prioritizingpregnant people:vaccine task force leader:

Manitoba open to prioritize pregnant people if necessary, says vaccine task force leader

4 years ago

Duration 0:41

Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead of Manitoba's vaccine task force, said on Wednesday presently pregnant people who get COVID-19 in Manitoba don't appear to be at heightened risk, but if that changes locally the province would consider prioritizing them for vaccines.