McLENNAN COUNTY, Tex. — A Texas mother was infected with COVID-19 while pregnant. She recovered, but her babies did not.

Vaccination information is confidential, so we do not know whether the mother was vaccinated.

Any kind of sickness can put extra strain and stress on the mother.

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“Fever, difficulty breathing, all of the issues that come with COVID and those symptoms put stress on her, and it also puts stress on the babies,” Waco-McLennan County Public Information Officer Kelly Craine said.

Clinicians have seen the number of pregnant people infected with COVID-19 rise in the past several weeks.

In a statement, health authority Dr. Farley Verner said, “Pregnant women with COVID-19 are at increased risk of preterm birth and miscarriages.”

He also said pregnant women, women of childbearing age, and those breastfeeding are strongly encouraged to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their babies from COVID-19.

Craine encourages pregnant women to start by talking to their obstetrician.

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“Your doctor that knows your health as much as you do, your doctor who has been through the entire journey of your pregnancy,” Craine said.

Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialist Paula Smith said she would never recommend something that isn’t safe.

“We have two patients to take care of,” Dr. Smith said. “We have the baby and the mom. We would never recommend something that we didn’t feel would be beneficial to them.”

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The district says the increased risk of severe illness and pregnancy complications related to COVID-19 among pregnant women makes vaccination more urgent than ever.

“We’ve stopped diseases before, we’ve stopped smallpox, we essentially stopped polio,” Craine said. “We can stop COVID-19. We actually have the ability to do it, and that requires all of us individually getting the vaccine.”