2020 started off as an amazing year for Drew and Alyssa Dooley. At the end of February, they found out they were going to be parents to a fourth child. They were thrilled and ready to see what the next nine months would bring, but what it brought just a couple of weeks later- the COVID pandemic, was definitely not what they were expecting.
“With COVID-19 being a novel virus, I wasn’t really sure what to expect,” said Alyssa. “ I just knew I would do everything I could to keep myself and my family from getting it.”
Like most people, the Dooley’s took every recommended precaution, perhaps even more so, knowing they were protecting the health of their unborn child. Drew is a contractor and works in people’s homes for a living. To be sure he limited exposure as much as possible to Alyssa and the baby she was carrying, as well as their son and twin daughters, he would immediately shower and change clothes as soon as he got home from work. They also made it a point to stay home more than usual, choosing to not attend weddings and other events with friends that they normally would have. In general, they limited the number of people they were around – all in hopes of staying healthy and COVID-free.
Alyssa also took extra precautions at her work. As a middle school teacher and high school volleyball coach, she always made sure she was wearing a face mask and using hand sanitizer. But despite all of their best efforts, on September 21, Alyssa was put in quarantine due to exposure to COVID. Shortly after, she began experiencing daily headaches.
“I wasn’t sure if they were due to COVID, pregnancy, or allergies,” she said.
At the requirement of both Public Health and the Eagle Grove Area School District, Alyssa had a rapid test done that next Wednesday morning. She took a second COVID test at the pop-up clinic held outside the EG elementary/middle school later that evening. Both tests came back negative.
“On Saturday, September 26, I began experiencing (more) allergy-like symptoms–scratchy throat, a headache behind my eyes and a burning in my nose…which would not be out of the norm for me. The only difference was I felt that the burning in my nose was far more severe than normal,” Alyssa recalled. “This went on all weekend.”
Two days later, she began showing more severe symptoms – a whole week after her quarantine began. She woke from a night of little sleep. Fever, chills, and extreme body aches had set in. That’s when she decided it was time to take yet another COVID test. She drove herself to Community Health in Fort Dodge for a third rapid test, and sure enough, this time it came back positive.
“On my drive to Fort Dodge that morning, I tried to prepare myself for the positive result. However, nothing could have prepared me for the overwhelming feeling I had after being told I did indeed have the virus. I knew this meant I wouldn’t get to see my husband or kids until I was healthy. What I didn’t know is this meant for the remainder of my pregnancy,” said Alyssa.
The recommendation she got from Community Health, in agreement from her OB, was to rest, push fluids and take Tylenol as needed.”
The next two days brought increased pain and an increasing fever, at some points reaching as high as 103.8 degrees.
“I would go from having extreme chills to extreme sweats. The Tylenol I had been taking had completely stopped working, so I was in constant, all over pain. My nurse at my OB clinic suggested Benadryl to help me sleep. To my surprise, it worked wonders— I finally slept a solid six hours. Unfortunately this is the only time it worked,” Alyssa explained.
However, when she woke up on Thursday, Oct. 1, she thought she was feeling a little better than she had in several days.
“I finally felt a little hope,” she said.
However, after trying to complete a simple task like showering, she was exhausted and ended up back in my bed and in even more pain than before.
“This is when I began noticing a change in my breathing. I walked down our stairs and to our front door and had to sit on our landing for 10 minutes before I could make the trip back up the steps. By the time I got to my bedroom at the top of the stairs I began hyperventilating. After sending a video to my mom about my crackled breathing, she and Drew decided to get me into the ER, where I found out I had pneumonia on top of COVID,” said Alyssa.
Being COVID-positive created a different ER experience than Alyssa said she had ever had before. Instead of going to registration, Drew had to call an ER nurse to come meet them in the ambulance garage. They pushed her by wheelchair into a side door into the triage room. Drew had to sit and wait in the parking lot. After being diagnosed with pneumonia on top of COVID, the OB on call consulted with a high risk doctor and they decided she needed to be admitted. The original plan was to stay 24 hours for monitoring, but her condition worsened, so she stayed longer.
The next several days brought more of the same for Alyssa – body aches, extreme chills, and high fevers…and more worry about the health of her baby as her body used so much energy to heal itself.
On Oct. 4, things got even worse. She began experiencing a dry, annoying cough and was put on oxygen. By 11 p.m. that night she was on her way by ambulance to Mercy One in Des Moines. There, she spent a total of 13 days — 10 days for COVID and three additional days for post c-section care.
“Due to being COVID-positive, I was unable to have visitors. This made my time at both Clarion and Des Moines extremely lonely,” admitted Alyssa. “Some nurses checked on me in person while others checked on me through the call button. The staff had to dress in full PPE every time they came into my room. I felt guilty even asking for a glass of water because I knew how much work went into coming into my room.”
Things got even more nerve-racking for Alyssa when doctors and nurses started talking about possible intubation for her and what would happen if it came to that point.
“I required nine liters of oxygen at one point, and if it would have reached 10, they would have intubated and performed a c-section,” explained Alyssa. “Sitting in my room alone mulling that over was tough. I just kept telling myself that as long as Layla was safe and healthy everything would be fine.”
