Drew and Alyssa Dooley were excited to find out in February of this year that they were going to have another baby…then COVID set in, and by the start of October, Alyssa was hospitalized and eventually put on oxygen. Not only did she feel physically awful, but he emotions were running high as well wondering what this disease was doing to her unborn daughter.
More worry set in when Alyssa’s doctor eventually did come in in mid-October to tell her they decided to take her baby girl, Layla, early because they couldn’t get their oxygen levels under control.
“I felt very out of control. I worried that it was too early and that she’d have to spend time in the NICU. I worried about Layla contracting COVID and having issues with her lungs. I worried about feeling well enough to take care of a newborn while trying to recover from being ill,” she admitted.
Layla was born on October 14, 2020, at 37 weeks 2 days, about two weeks earlier than her scheduled C-section had already been pre-planned. Her care team consisted of a high-risk OBGYN, an internal medicine doctor and a pulmonary doctor.
“They all believed my best option was to deliver early to see if that would give my body the relief it needed. Layla (her unborn daughter) added increased pressure on my diaphragm which restricted my lung capacity.,” explained Alyssa.
To make matters even more stressful, Alyssa was unsure if Drew was going to be able to make it for the delivery. He had taken a COVID test on October 12 and was told to expect the results within a day. On Oct. 14, he had still not gotten the results so he scheduled a rapid test for that morning . The original plan was for Alyssa to have her c-section at 1:30 p.m. on October 14, but at 9 a.m., her nurse came in and told her they moved it up to 10:30 a.m.. Drew called her at 8:45 a.m. with good news. He was negative for COVID.
“Fifteen minutes later I called him to tell him he needed to get to Des Moines as soon as possible. From 9 a.m. on it was go time. The nurses began prepping me. The OBGYN performing my C-section came in to discuss last-minute details with me and I asked him to wait for Drew if we could, but she seemed pretty adamant that we were on a tight schedule,” said Alyssa. “Luckily my nurse for the day was awesome and put my pre-surgery IV on a slow drip. This gave Drew enough time to make it. It was such a relief.”
Despite the challenges, the delivery went well. Baby Layla only had to be put on a small amount of oxygen for a few hours after delivery. The doctors thought this was due to the fact that Alyssa was reliant on oxygen for so long before her delivery. Momma and baby Layla were released to go home on Saturday, October 17.
“I was overtaken by emotion as soon as I saw Eagle Grove from Highway 17. After being away from my kids for 20 days and in the hospital for 16 days it seemed so surreal that we were all going to be together under one roof,” recalled Alyssa of her arrival home.
She added that when they were 10 minutes outside of town, their son began texting asking when they would be home. He expressed how excited they were to see their mom and new baby sister. When they finally pulled into our alley, they were greeted by all three kids and Alyssa’s parents.
“They all ran to my door to greet me. I was so overwhelmed with emotion,” she said.
They say every cloud has a silver lining. Alyssa found one even through her experience with COVID, and that was technology. Not only did it allow her to let her family know exactly when she would be arriving home through text messaging, but it also kept her in touch with them the entire time she was quarantined and in the hospital. Technology made this more bearable. Her children quarantined with her mom, Shelby Pedersen, while Drew was in the field for harvest. Despite how sick Alyssa felt, she would try to call them on WhatsApp at least once a day. Unfortunately her mom later tested positive, followed by their daughter, Avery. This created a crazy circumstance. Drew and two of their children, Hayden and Aubrey, now had to quarantine in the basement of his parents house while Avery and Shelby quarantined upstairs at the Pedersen house.
“Luckily, WhatsApp has the option to create groups when talking. This allowed me to call and talk to all my kids at the same time. I looked forward to talking to them, but it started becoming obvious that it got harder and harder for my kids over time. I would hang up after talking to them and just cry,” said Alyssa. “But Luckily my son, Hayden, has an iPod he can use as a phone, so I was able to communicate with him on a daily basis. He would send me videos, pictures and sweet messages.”
Technology truly was one of her only saving graces through all of this.
“I think I would have been an emotional wreck if I didn’t have the capability of doing so. It was my only form of human contact that didn’t consist of being poked and prodded,” she said.
The other thing that helped Alyssa through not only a scary time with COVID, but doing it while pregnant, was knowing how many people back home were praying and thinking about her and her family.
“I received daily text and Facebook messages from people checking in on me. People supplied our family with meals and gifts for my kids. It was a sigh of relief to know that was one less thing for my family to worry about back home. It definitely goes to show what a great community we live in,” she said. “I am so grateful for everyone who helped my family during this crazy time. We cannot begin to thank everyone for all the prayers, meals, gift cards & outpouring of generosity.”
