One mom is finally celebrating her daughter’s first birthday after giving birth while in a coma, battling COVID-19.
“I was like hey girl, I’m going to take care of you, I love you. Don’t be afraid, everything is going to be ok,” Donna Molina said.
But life didn’t start out that way for little Harley.
“She’s my only girl, I’ve got three sons,” Molina said while in tears. “You’re here one day and you could be gone the next.”
Just last year, Molina became infected with COVID when pregnant with Harley and was delivering her two months prematurely. The 33-year-old was in an induced coma for 11 days and had to be separated from her newborn for close to 40 days.
“They did test her antibodies; she didn’t have any, she didn’t contract the virus so, because of all of those uncertainties, we had to be extra careful, like not letting anyone in the house at all,” Molina said.
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“Because I wasn’t able to nurture her, to breastfeed her, to really bond with her, to do the skin to skin with her… so all of those things were some of my fears,” she said.
“She knew who I was and I knew who she was and she smelled like my baby and she just fell asleep right on my chest and slept sound asleep the whole night and it was such an easy transition,” Molina said.
But Molina was not the only mom to celebrate — mother Yanira Soriano had a similar story to Molina. Soriano (who also survived COVID after giving birth to a baby boy) and celebrated his first birthday on Friday.
RELATED: COVID-19 Positive Mom Who Gave Birth In A Coma Finally Meets 3-Month-Old Daughter
It was a celebratory occasion for Yanira as they celebrated baby Walter’s first birthday with a Paw Patrol-themed birthday.
Just last spring, after spending 11 days on a ventilator fighting COVID, held her baby for the first time.
“A year ago, I was so sick, I didn’t even know I had baby Walter,” Soriano said. “I am so thankful and grateful to the team at South Shore University hospital for bringing me back to life so I could be here to celebrate my baby’s birthday today.”
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