Harviell family celebrates miracles after COVID-19 places pregnant mother on vent

When Tiffany Fowler was placed on a respirator after contracting COVID-19 at eight months pregnant, her family feared the worst. But the Harviell family recently celebrated what they consider their third miracle, Tiffany’s recovery, the safe birth of her son, and the fact that the boy’s great-grandfather has been declared cancer free.

Jensen Jett Fowler was delivered in a St. Louis hospital Aug. 13, by cesarean section, after his mother began experiencing complications from COVID, including trouble breathing. She was on a ventilator at the time of his birth, and only recently was able to meet her fifth child.

On Aug. 20, the baby’s family received the news that not only were mom and baby on the road to recovery, the baby’s great grandfather had won a two-year battle with cancer.

Jensen Jett Fowler is the fifth sibling to Todd and Tiffany Fowler’s family. He arrived early after his mother caught COVID-19.Photo provided

Mom placed on vent before birth

Tiffany first began to feel ill after a baby shower in July, describing it as a “little tickle” in her throat. She went to the doctor “because I was not feeling well; the doctor monitored me for three hours.”

On a later visit, she said, her COVID-19 test came back positive, and the doctor sent her home with instructions to text or call him at any time.

Two days later, on Aug. 12, Tiffany was back at the emergency room at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center, and her oxygen levels were going down.

“The doctor thought I needed to be at Barnes(-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis),” Tiffany said. “It was five weeks until the baby was due.”

Tiffany recalls “within 10 minutes, I had signed the papers for a C-section, and I was in the air.

“I arrived at 12:05 in the morning. I was in the ER room telling them I cannot breathe.”

She recalls her oxygen was dropping to the 40s and “that is when they intubated me. I did not wake up until Aug. 18.”

During that time, her husband, Todd, was unable to see his wife because of her COVID diagnosis.

But Tiffany remembers waking up to see pictures of “my family, my kids flash on the walls.”

Tiffany said she would call the nurse in, and they would turn on the light, and “it was not real, but it was my confirmation I am going to see them all again.

“I would remember why I was there. Here I am, and I don’t remember having the baby Aug. 13.”

Tiffany recalls thinking, “here I am, I don’t want to die, but I still could not breathe.”

Meeting baby by video

When she did wake up, they used an iPad, so she could see the baby on a live video. The next day, she and her husband video chatted.

“I could not go see the baby,” and her husband “could not come see me,” she said.

“I did nothing that was protocol,” she said. “It was a miracle I woke up as soon as I did.”

A third miracle

The family and the community prayed for mom and son’s recovery.

Tiffany’s aunt, Renee Fisher, received the news Aug. 20 that the baby was doing good and Tiffany was off the respirator.

Family members were praising God for his miracles when they received news of the third blessing — Renee Fisher’s father and Tiffany’s grandfather, Melvin Hanner’s PET scan showed he was cancer free.

Hanner, 77, had retired from Ozark Border Electric Cooperative in 1995, after having worked 34 years as a lineman.

He developed squamous non-small cell cancer in August 2018 and learned Aug. 20 he is cancer free.

Another aunt, Pam Fisher Stucker, of Poplar Bluff said, “We are very thankful for all the people who prayed and thankful to God he answered the prayers.”

Renee Fisher said when she called for a report on Tiffany, “the nurses told us it is a miracle; she has been touched by God. It is a miracle setting in a chair talking on the phone. It is a miracle.”

Another nurse, who had read Tiffany’s chart before walking into her room, told the family, Tiffany’s recovery was “amazing.”

When Renee Fisher got in touch with Tiffany’s oldest daughter Brooke, her response was “when I woke up, I knew today was going to be a good day.”

Tiffany’s husband, Todd, who tested negative for the virus, spent five hours Friday, Aug. 21, with the baby and picked up Tiffany the next day. He now has to be quarantined since he picked up Tiffany at the hospital.

Answered prayers

Jensen is a baby the couple has prayed for, after four years after trying to get pregnant. She had taken medicine this time to help, but nothing was happening.

“I had just stopped taking the medicine in August and got baptized in September,” she said. “In December, I found out I was pregnant.”

They each had two children when they married: Brooke, 11; Caitlyn, who will turn 9 in early September; Lillian, whose eighth birthday was in May; and Dawson Fowler, 10.

As of this week, Jensen is growing and Tiffany doesn’t seem to have any lasting symptoms from her illness.

“It has been pretty amazing. My voice is beginning to come back,” she said.

“I give all the glory to God. I would not have made it with this outcome, with the baby and COVID,” she said.

When Jensen arrived five weeks early, he weighed 6 pounds, 3 1/2 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long.

Tiffany says she knows her son has a will of his own.

“He was on a vent two hours before he pulled it out, and he didn’t need it,” she said.

Hospital staff are tube feeding Jensen, but he’s now taking 56% of his food from the bottle. He won’t be able to come home until he’s able to eat better on his own.

When asked for comments about the miracles, Todd Fowler shared his reference to Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”