Pregnant woman hospitalized with covid miscarried her baby. Her husband regrets that they were not vaccinated.

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Juan Guevara was the first in the family to fall ill.

In mid-August, the 44-year-old father of two fell with a sore throat, fever and chills. He quickly tested positive for the coronavirus.

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Two days after receiving the test result, his pregnant wife also began to feel unwell. At the family home in Victorville, California, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles, Esmeralda Ramos began complaining of muscle aches and headaches. His back ached. Then she started to cough.

Worried about the baby, due to arrive in November, Ramos made the decision to drive himself to the hospital. Still ill himself, Guevara needed to be home to care for their 2 and 7-year-old children, who had also tested positive.

Over the next few weeks, Ramos’ condition worsened and she was placed on a ventilator. On Sunday, Guevara received a call from the hospital informing him that doctors could no longer hear the baby’s heartbeat.

“When I arrived at the hospital on Sunday afternoon, they unfortunately informed me that he had passed away,” Guevara told the Washington Post.

Neither Guevara nor Ramos, 43, had received the coronavirus vaccine. Guevara told the Post he was not sure whether to do this and that his wife was concerned the blow would adversely affect the baby.

“She was still worried about the baby,” he said in a telephone interview Wednesday morning.

Ramos tested positive for the coronavirus just days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidelines recommending that pregnant women get vaccinated. Although the CDC previously said pregnant women were “eligible” for the vaccine, the agency maintained a neutral stance that stopped before an official recommendation.

As of September 4, only about 25% of the pregnant population in the United States had received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to a CDC data set.

CDC officials now say the vaccine does not increase the risk of miscarriage and that the benefits of being vaccinated against the coronavirus outweigh the known risks. Pregnant people who contract the virus are more likely to have severe symptoms that require hospitalization and the need for a ventilator, and they are at increased risk of preterm labor and “other adverse pregnancy outcomes”.

Guevara said he had to wait more than a week to visit his wife in hospital due to his own illness. After receiving a negative test result, he rushed to her bedside. At the time, Ramos seemed to be in good health, although she still had this cough.

“She was fine. She was talking to me. She was fine,” Guevara recalls.

But in the next few days, Ramos ‘oxygen levels plummeted and the couple followed doctors’ recommendation to put her on a ventilator. And on Sunday, more than seven months into her pregnancy, Ramos miscarried. The couple had planned to name the baby Jonathan Julius.

Guevara said Wednesday morning that he was unable to communicate with his wife, who is sedated and “very critical at the moment”. He tried to stay positive for their children, praying for their mother to come home.

In retrospect, Guevara said he “shouldn’t have listened to” the opinions of others about the vaccine, including those who wondered why he needed it. Once these seeds of doubt were planted, they took root.

“Different people have told me different stories,” he told The Post. “Why buy something I don’t need? It was just me who was stubborn.”

Guevara said he plans to get the shot as soon as he can – and he encourages others to do the same.

“Wear your mask and get vaccinated as soon as possible. Don’t even think about it,” he said. “People will regret it like me.”