A woman from Washington state says that God and her faith helped her when she gave birth in a coma while battling infection with the novel coronavirus.
The 27-year-old Vancouver resident awoke on April 6, with her pregnant-belly flat after the symptoms of the illness had dissipated. Soon she found out that she had given birth while she was unconscious.
Angela Primachenko said she started feeling ill on March 24, after getting a fever — a dangerous symptom for a woman 33 weeks pregnant. So she went to the hospital, where she worked as a respiratory therapist, to be tested for coronavirus and the results came back positive.
Her symptoms were worsening and by March 29, Primachenko was placed in a medically induced coma. She was still unconscious on April 1, when doctors induced labor and delivered her baby girl, Ava, whose name means “breath of life.”
Primachenko’s twin sister, Oksana Luiten, wrote about it on Instagram, admitting the “dark time” challenged her faith and trust in God.
“I felt so powerless and so fearful and out of control,” she wrote. “But that’s how faith grows, going through times of uncertainty and seeing God gently calm my spirt again and again… and now seeing the end… I stand in awe of God. He is good.”
Primachenko is now off the ventilator and is breathing well on her own after she was discharged from the ICU. She received applause from her colleagues who gathered around to applaud her stunning fight. “Everyone did a standing ovation and just clapped me out of the ICU, which was so amazing and such a huge thing to be able to leave the ICU and go to the floors,” she recalled. “It was just the grace of God.”
Although she hasn’t interacted physically with her newborn daughter, she has been able to see her over video calls when her husband, David, checks in on Ava. “She’s our new little breath of life,” Primachenko said.
Ava is joining her big sister Emily, who is only about 10 months older, since she was born prematurely. Primachenko won’t be able to reunite with her husband and daughters until she has tested negative for the coronavirus at least twice.
“Even in the hardest days and the hardest times, there’s hope,” she said. “And you can rely on God and people and community. The amount of community people that were praying for me is just unbelievable. I was blown away and I’m so incredibly thankful. And I feel like I’m a miracle walking.”
What an amazing testimony of the healing power of God and the power of prayer by a new mother who didn’t even know that she had given birth till she came out of coma. Our God is really a wonder-working God and no virus on earth can stand before Him.
