Special deliveries during pandemic

Babies born during the COVID-19 pandemic will have interesting stories to tell when they are old enough, especially about how they entered the world. For parents who have a newborn at home, maintaining social distancing to ensure the health of their babies has been tough with so much love to go around. Carroll Township parents Nina and Jason Iampietro are simply thankful for their “miracle baby,” Jett Adler Iampietro.

Nina and Jason decided to have children four years ago, but struggled to conceive and wanted to have their baby naturally.

After years of failed attempts, the couple started to accept parenting might not be meant for them until they were surprised with a positive pregnancy test last fall. Despite complications early in the pregnancy, Jett was born happy and healthy at Washington Hospital at 3:23 p.m. May 19.

His father picked his first name, because he “could see it on the cover of Guitar World magazine” someday and his mother chose his middle name because of its old world sound.

“We wanted to make sure his initials were ‘JAI’ though,” Nina said. “Jason, his dad and grandfather all share those initials, so it was important to us to keep that going.”

Though Jett decided he was not ready for the world quite yet, doctors decided to induce Nina on her due date. But because of the pandemic, delivery was not exactly what she expected it to be. The day doctors decided on her birth plan, she was sent for mandatory COVID-19 testing and prepared to be induced less than a week later.

“I had to go into the hospital at 5:30 a.m. and had to get my temperature taken and answer questions, so did my husband,” she said. “I was put on Pitocin to start labor and they broke my water for me.

“Then what could have been a very long labor process, flew by quickly.” She was in labor for about six hours and pushed for only about 30 minutes before Jett made his way into the world.

For a first-time mom, she said labor was a breeze.

“I felt great afterward and during,” she said. “And Jett did fantastic and soared through testing with flying colors.

“The nurses on staff, doctors and the anesthesiologist were amazing and made everything go smoothly.” While everything went well, giving birth during a pandemic changed her expectations.

Her husband was the only person to be with her for labor and delivery.

“Once he came in he couldn’t leave the maternity ward, but the staff took great care to keep him comfortable, as well as Jett and I,” she said. “I had originally planned for my mother and Jason’s mother to be there and have visitors.”

Anyone who entered the room had to have their temperatures taken. When Nina or Jason left the room, they were required to wear masks.

But for the new parents, it made the birth of their son more relaxed.

“It was kind of nice,” she said. “It kept everything peaceful and gave the three of us a chance to bond.”

Since being home, life has been perfect, she added.

“It may just be a honeymoon period, but he’s a great baby,” she said. “The first night was a bit trying with lack of sleep first us both, but the second night home I used a system I read about, EASY (Eat, Activity, Sleep, You), and he killed it.

“We both slept and woke up happy. He’s not much of a crier either.”

Someday, she plans to tell Jett all about COVID-19.

“We even have a little baseball mask to put into his baby book from Jason’s mom,” she said.

She knows exactly what she will say to him when the time comes.

“It seems scary to be in the moment and be going through this, but I will get the chance to tell him that the world was falling apart, a pandemic had broke out and the future was sort of unknown,” Nina said. “Everything seemed to change over night, but one thing was for sure ... you.

“We want him to know that he was the one thing for us that eclipsed all the rest and made the world look bright again.”

Until then, she is enjoying social distancing and getting to know her new bundle of joy.

“Every little new thing with him is amazing to us,” she said. “The pups love him, when he smiles we lose it and when he coos we go crazy.

“Being his parents is surreal and I actually still find myself holding him and thinking, is this really my child? Can I really be this blessed?”

He represents something more than being their son.

“He’s more than just a baby for us; he’s our miracle, our future,” she said. “Every time we see him it is a reminder that there is no such thing as impossible.

“Even if it feels like everything is out of your control, when I look at him it makes me feel like anything can happen, that you can have happiness.”

For Kara and Frank Nahar of Monongahela, the pandemic brought them one of their greatest gifts.

The couple had their first child, Benjamin, but suffered a miscarriage in 2018, making the pregnancy of their daughter very special.

“She is our rainbow baby,” Kara said.

McKenleigh Katherine Nahar was born at 2:25 p.m. April 28 at Jefferson Hospital.

Life at home with her newborn daughter has not been quite the same as the birth of her son four years ago. “With our first we had no restrictions as far as visitors and our stay with Ben was four days opposed to the 24 hours we stayed with McKenleigh,” she said. “Frank was the only one allowed in the hospital our entire stay.”

It was hard not to have her family, friends or her son there to meet their little girl.

“It was heartbreaking that we couldn’t have Ben there or our family and close friends, but we utilized FaceTime and tried to make the best of it,” she said. “With Ben, we had so many friends and family come and we had the chance to celebrate his arrival.

“It was so fun for us to show off our newest addition, but being pregnant during the pandemic was so much harder.”

Kara wasn’t able to enjoy the pregnancy as much with restrictions due to the coronavirus in place.

“Our baby sprinkle was canceled the week after the COVID-19 restrictions came into place and trying to go into stores to gather last minute things and food for meal prepping was awful,” she said. “Wearing a mask while nine months pregnant isn’t exactly ideal when you can’t breathe to begin with.”

Things that were easy with her first pregnancy became more difficult.

“Waiting in long lines because of low-capacity rules isn’t ideal, over-the-phone doctors’ appointments became a thing and pretty much everything that was so easy during my first pregnancy became inconvenient,” she said.

Still, her family and friends rallied to support the growing family.

“Our family and friends went above and beyond to make sure we felt the excitement of a normal pregnancy,” she said. “My sister took our maternity pictures with her iPhone and our close friends made a drive-by parade of cars for our baby sprinkle, dropping gifts off in our car trunk.

“I was heartbroken when we realized there wouldn’t be a photographer allowed in the hospital to take her first pictures, and then my mother-in-law surprised us with a newborn photo-shoot for when we came home.”

McKenleigh has only met a handful of family — but her parents are grateful for some time alone with her.

“With every little inconvenience that was thrown our way, we were blessed in even bigger ways,” she said. “Quarantine with a baby has been blissful because I have had days on days of quality one-on-one time with our girl, but at the same time there is also a feeling of isolation and worry.”

Until she is able to meet the rest of her family when life returns to normal, Benjamin is having fun getting to know his little sister.

“Benjamin turned 4 on April 13 and he is all boy,” she said. “He loves monster trucks and cars, pretty much anything with wheels and dirt, but most of all he is an amazing big brother.

“He is very affectionate, sometimes too much, and protective. We are so excited about watching them grow and blossom together.”

Arianna Marie Nash and her fiancé Gregory Ivory Jr. of Monongahela are also enjoying time at home with their growing family.

Their first son, Bryson, was born in 2018 and he already loves being a big brother.

The couple’s newest addition, Jayson Gregory Ivory, was born at 9:15 p.m. March 26 at Jefferson Hospital.

Arianna said Jayson was stubborn and she had to be induced at 39 weeks’ pregnant in the early hours of the morning.

She was in labor for 16 hours, but pushed for only five minutes before Jayson arrived.

Labor was easier the second time around, despite major differences in light of the pandemic.

“This labor was a piece of cake compared to my first,” she said. “Being induced was amazing.”

While she was worried about what delivery would look like during a viral pandemic, once she arrived at the hospital she felt comfortable.

“I was really worried about the virus going into the hospital, but the labor and delivery floor was very secure about who came in and out and had a lot of precautions, which was great.”

Gregory was the only person allowed to be in the delivery room in addition to the medical team.

The toughest part about the labor was having to wait nearly 24 hours to eat.

“My fiancé was not permitted to leave or he couldn’t come back, and after Jayson was born, the cafeteria was closed. He could not leave to get me food, so I went beyond 24 hours without food. It was terrible.”

She and the baby stayed at the hospital for two days in less than desirable conditions.

“After having our son, they moved us to this unbelievably tiny room where we stayed for two days,” she said. “It was very cramped and we couldn’t go in and out as we expected because of the virus.

“We were ready to go home.”

Life with a newborn in quarantine has been different.

“Only Jayson’s grandma and two uncles have seen him since he was born,” she said. “We have a mighty large family, which is sad because they are missing out on the newborn little baby faze because of this virus.” She has only taken Jayson out for check ups since he was born.

“Being a stay-at-home mom with a toddler and a newborn is so stressful during this virus,” she said. “As a mom you want to take your kids out go see friends or go to the park and we can’t do that.

“You’re scared of your baby contacting this virus, so you seclude yourself to the house and it makes you almost insane.”

With Bryson needing to run off energy and her newborn being restricted indoors, it has been hard.

“This virus just ruins a lot of things,” she said. “We as a family are just excited he’s here, no matter what’s going on in the world.

“I just can’t wait until he can meet all of his family and doesn’t have to be stuffed up in the house all day.”

She is looking forward to next summer when he will be able to enjoy a lot of firsts.

“We were excited to enjoy our summer and at this point it doesn’t look like that will happen, especially because no pools or water parks will be open.

“But we are excited for all of those things next year.”