Having a child is stressful enough under normal circumstances. Having one amid a deadly pandemic is nightmare-inducing. Yet that’s the reality for expectant mothers across the nation as the novel coronavirus continues to spread.
“I’m not going to lie, I definitely had a pretty major meltdown the night before he was coming,” Jenn Schleyer told NBC10.
Jenn and her husband Brad Schleyer knew that a hospital was the last place they wanted to be in as they prepared to give birth to their second child. The couple, who live in Hatfield, was told they weren’t allowed to have guests while in close proximity to patients sick with the coronavirus at Einstein Montgomery in East Norriton.
“Knowing we’d be some place where, 200 feet away from us, I’m sure the coronavirus is very active,” Jenn said.
Despite the fear of exposure and no family members at the hospital, Jenn told NBC10 everything was nearly perfect as she gave birth to her baby boy Jackson Tate Schleyer on Monday.
“Everything went so beautifully,” she said. “The doctors and nurses are just heroes. They took such good care of us.”
And after one miracle, the couple soon experienced another later that day; a rainbow welcoming their baby boy to the world.
“I laid down and out of the corner of my eye, through the crack below the blinds, I saw color,” Brad told NBC10. “And I jumped up and I said, ‘Jenn, you’ve got to see this.’ I pulled up the blinds and I got everything up and there it was. And it was one of those moments where honestly, we can tell you, we won’t ever forget it.”
After seeing the rainbow, Jenn received a phone call from her mother, who was watching Jackson’s big brother Brody.
“She called me up and said, ‘Oh my God, there’s a rainbow outside,’” Jenn said. “And I could hear Brody in the background saying, ‘Mommy look! Mommy look! Do you see the rainbow?’”
After a day full of miracles, the couple received a final surprise. They were allowed to leave the hospital a day early.
“It made us feel like everything is going to be okay,” Brad said.
It was a sign of better days to come for Brad and Jenn and hopefully, for the rest of the world as well.
