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New Boise mom on ventilator in Salt Lake City, recovering from COVID-19

24-year-old Jessi Jenson tested positive for COVID-19 just four days before giving birth to her daughter, sending her through a medical whirlwind of events.

BOISE, Idaho — Boise couple Jessi and Benjamin Jenson welcomed their baby girl, Gwendolyn, to the world on Oct. 30.

Both of them had recently tested positive for COVID-19.

After a successful C-section, Jessi and Benjamin left St. Luke’s with their baby, but Jessi’s COVID symptoms got worse.

"She had a cough, which really, really sucks when you have an incision along your abdomen,” Benjamin said. “We were figuring that she was going to improve and this would be behind us in the next couple weeks, couple months.”

Jessi was admitted back into St. Luke’s on Nov. 3, after just two days of being home.

Medical staff found out her blood oxygen level was at 25%, so they put her on a ventilator.

"She was improving for a little while, but they had the ventilator on the max settings and if you hold it at the max settings too long, it's like redlining a car,” Benjamin said. “You can do it, but after a while, it starts damaging the engine."

Early on the morning of Nov. 4, Jessi was flown to Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City where doctors performed surgery to get her oxygen level back to normal.

As of Thursday, Benjamin said Jessi is progressively recovering, but she is still on a ventilator.

"Jessie seems to be hopeful and the nurses seem to be hopeful that she will get off the ventilator here in the next 24 hours,” he said. "As far as out of the hospital, we could be looking at one or two weeks, possibly sooner, but I doubt it."

Benjamin is waiting for his wife’s release in Ogden with in-laws, who are helping care for baby Gwendolyn.

"Follow the advice of competent medical professionals – wear the mask, do what you need to do to keep other people safe,” Benjamin said. "If you do get [COVID-19], be really careful because you don't want to share it with people you care about and possibly see them fighting for their lives."

Benjamin is keeping in touch with Jessi virtually, who has to write on a whiteboard to respond to him since she is on a ventilator and cannot speak.

He said Jessi is committed to recovering so she can return to her baby and husband. In the meantime, the couple is taking their situation day-by-day.

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