SARASOTA, Fla. — Local doctors say there’s been a startling rise in the number of severely sick pregnant COVID patients.
"I had no idea that I would get that sick," said Brittany Campana, a 29-year-old labor and delivery nurse at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
Campana said she thought she was doing everything right during her pregnancy.
"Eating salads, fruits, and vegetables, and making sure I’m taking my vitamins all the time," said Campana.
The mother of three was pregnant with her fourth child and thought she was healthy enough that she didn’t have to worry COVID. So she put off getting the vaccine; a decision she now regrets.
"I never thought in a million years that I would be in the hospital bed asking the doctors if I was going to die," said Campana.
She got the virus and had to be hospitalized before the recent surge of the COVID Delta variant.
"When I was so severely sick with COVID, I was so afraid that I was going to die, that I was going to leave my three kids at home and possibly this baby," said Campana.
Sarasota Memorial Hospital said just in the month of August, they had more than 50 pregnant women severely sick with COVID.
"If COVID wasn’t here this wouldn’t have happened because it's what caused my placenta to be damaged, and my son could’ve died," said Campana.
Baby Hudson had to be delivered pre-term by an emergency C-section. Since the delivery, Campana and Hudson are doing fine.
Now she wants her story to encourage other moms to get vaccinated.
"I was mad at myself for not getting the vaccine because it probably could've prevented this and I could've had a full-term baby," said Campana.
