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'Is it going to affect the baby?': Denver woman talks about birth during coronavirus diagnosis

Posted at 4:31 PM, Apr 05, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-10 07:36:09-04

DENVER — Baby Sasha Sprunk is barely a week old. She wasn't expected until April 7, but she came early when her mom felt sick.

"I was 37 weeks pregnant, and I started feeling ill. I had body aches, chills," Johanna Sprunk said.

Sprunk thought it might be due to the pregnancy. It was up and down until she woke up with a really bad cough one day and knew it was worse.

"They sent me to the hospital, and they immediately did a coronavirus test on me," she said.

While waiting for results, doctors told her they could induce labor or wait it out. So with the unknown of potentially another week, while sick, they chose to induce.

"I was getting ready to push. They put the things on your chest, and they said, 'I don't know if you know, but you came back positive.' In my head, I was like, 'ok, what now? I'm positive. I'm going to give birth. Is it going to affect the baby?'" she recalled.

Baby Sasha soon entered their lives, and fortunately for them, mom, dad, and baby all went home two days later.

"[Sasha] got tested for the virus, and she came out negative. So we're very thankful we're able to bring her home," Sprunk said.

Sasha is doing great so far. Their doctor said to keep some distancing still and wear a mask when feeding her. Mom is also doing much better, with only a few lingering symptoms.

"It's good to feel back to normal," she said.

Watching the two most important women in Nathan Sprunk's life go through this was tough.

"It's been a trying time. You feel like you have two hands tied behind your back. What can you do? Trying to console her through pregnancy, and now you have something doctors don't fully have the answer to," he said.

But now things appear to be going well, and the quarantine gives the first time parents time with their baby girl and a story for when she grows up.

"It's kinda working out, the timing of being in the house and telling her later. Basically, we had to be here," Nathan Sprunk said.