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Tiffany Owenby was 26 weeks pregnant and her COVID symptoms took a turn for the worse. The nurse who sat by her beside didn’t know if she survived for months.
MACON, Ga. — When Tiffany Owenby was pregnant with James in 2021, she could not wait for him to be born.
“I’d think about sleeping on my side every night, whenever I’d roll over in bed easily and sleep on my side, I’d have that thought of, ‘Ugh, I remember when I dreamed about doing this again,'” she recalled.
Her nurse, Mindy Corbin, remembers that time differently.
“It was the worst 12 hours of my life,” Corbin said.
Corbin called it her toughest shift in eight years at Piedmont Macon.
“I cried the entire time,” Corbin said. “We intubated, proned her and I know she was canulated for ECMO; I do know she had a collapsed lung, I think at one point they said she needed a lung transplant.
“Given the circumstances her patient was under,” Corbin said, “she should not have made it. she’s a miracle, she really is.”
However, Owenby said, her memories aren’t as clear.
“I actually don’t remember that time,” Owenby said. “It happened pretty quickly from what I’ve been told is that I was OK, and then suddenly I was not.”
In August 2021, the COVID vaccine was approved for pregnant moms.
“The day the FDA came and out and said ‘If you’re pregnant, get it,’ I got it day one, and I came down with it in between my 2 doses,” Owenby remembers.
She was 26 weeks pregnant and her COVID symptoms took a turn for the worse.
“They roll in with her on this bipap (machine), and her husband is on Facetime,” Owenby said.
Corbin recalls every moment.
“We’d tube ’em first then intubate them, and then I would have to not only sedate, I would have to paralyze her, and then after she’s paralyzed, we’d turn her face down, where she remained my entire shift,” Corbin said.
After Owenby transferred to Piedmont Atlanta, the nurse said she could not stop thinking about her patient for weeks.
“I just remember in a dream that I had that Tiffany was holding a baby, and I didn’t know if that was real life, or her in heaven, I really didn’t know,” Corbin said.
Corbin said she searched obituaries for her patient’s name because it struck a chord in her.
“The only things I know in life are how to be a nurse and how to be a mom,” Corbin said.
James was born on Aug. 26, 2021.
But, since his mom was in a coma for 2 weeks, and on life support for 7 weeks, she didn’t get to meet her son until Oct. 14.
Owenby and Corbin eventually reconnected when she was in rehab that November; almost three years later, Nurse Corbin finally met James.
“Miracle baby and miracle mom!” Corbin said.
Though she’s healing, Tiffany said she still feels pins and needles in her left foot.
“It basically feels like it’s asleep,” Owenby said. “I wasn’t moving for two weeks, and it’s amazing how quickly you lose that muscle mass.”
But moms can do anything — like prepare for the Peachtree Road Race, a 10K in Atlanta happening on July 4.
“It was kinda just a personal goal,” Owenby said.
Ever since giving birth to her son, mom’s been counting every blessing.
“Little things now that I consider miracles that other people may not think of,” Owenby said.
She said she’s grateful for her miracle workers who’ve helped her each step of the way.
“Post-COVID, I’m very lucky, honestly, that I can walk at all,” Owenby said.
The Peach Tree Road race will send waves of runners every 5 minutes beginning at 7 a.m. on July 4.
The 55th annual 10K will feature over 50K participants.