BALDWIN PARK, Calif. (KTLA) — Roxanne McCabe was 38 weeks pregnant when her husband, Milo, tested positive for COVID-19.
“Ever have your stomach come up to your throat? That’s the feeling,” Milo McCabe said.
His condition rapidly declined and he was hospitalized at Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center.
“I didn’t know if he would come home, and I was going to be by myself with a newborn,” Roxanne McCabe said. “It was very traumatic for both of us.”
Milo McCabe, an electrician, said he felt like he was drowning in his own body.
Dr. Kim Man, a pulmonary and critical care specialist who was treating him, said he considered intubating him.
“Knowing how young he is, first child on the way, we were all very very anxious about him,” Man said.
Fortunately, Milo McCabe’s condition began to improve, but not soon enough.
Roxanne McCabe went into labor and her husband couldn’t be there in person since he still may have been contagious. Her mother was able to be by her side instead.
But he got the next best thing. He was able to watch the healthy birth of his daughter, Emberly, via Zoom video chat April 20.
“We’re grateful for the technology we have now. At least he could see it,” Roxanne McCabe said.
Days later, Milo McCabe was released from the hospital and met his baby girl.
“The real thing is always much different,” he said. “I couldn’t seem to not look at her. Even when she was across the room.”
He turned 29 while in the hospital.
“We didn’t think it would get us this bad,” his wife said. “We’re young, we’re healthy people.”
The family of three is back home together, and they say they’re feeling grateful to have overcome the unexpected hurdle.
