Any first-time parent will be so excited to finally meet their baby when the time comes.

But how can a new parent prepare for their baby’s arrival when they’ve also tested positive for the N-covid-19 virus?

That was on the mind of Andre Laubach and his wife, Jennifer, who was 32 weeks pregnant with twins.

But they didn’t have time to think.

On April 2, 2020, at 32 weeks pregnant, Jen’s water broke and they had to rush to the hospital. They had hesitations because just the night before, Andre came down with a violent cough. Andre had been tested for Covid-19 and they were still waiting for the results.

But at that moment, all they could think about was getting Jen to the hospital. It was too early. The babies weren’t due for at least another four weeks. They couldn’t be coming at this time.

Unfortunately, the twins were coming. Andre and Jen needed to go to the hospital immediately.

Andre called Troy Beaumont Hospital to inform them of their situation. Jen got a call from their doctor at the same time. Andre had tested positive while Jen tested negative.

But they needed to go.

While the couple prepared Jen’s bag, Andre had a severe coughing fit and had trouble talking and breathing. Jen knew she had to drive the car herself because her husband was in no condition to do so.

“I got a violent cough. [And] I was seeing stars,” Andre said. “Jen said, ‘You ready to go? Can you drive?’ I knew it was a no, but I couldn’t tell her that. It was my responsibility to drive my wife to the hospital when she was in labor.”

One look at Andre though and Jen knew he was in no condition to drive so she got behind the wheel.

30 seconds after they left, Jen and Andre got a call from their doctor that Andre will not be allowed into the hospital because of his positive result.

Jen had to go back and drop off her husband at the house.

“When I dropped him back off at home, I was worried that I might not see him again,” Jen said. “I was afraid he was going to die in his sleep, and he was all by himself.”

Nine days before his wife’s water broke, Andre had begun to get sick. He was battling cough, fatigue, and dizziness, plus he had asthma.

He was tested on his birthday.

After he got tested, his coughs got worse and it was getting harder and harder for him to breathe. He finally got some sound sleep at 7 am on April 2. Four hours later, Jen woke him up because her water broke.

It broke Jen’s heart that Andre had to stay behind. He was going to miss the birth of his twin sons. But there was no way he could come to the hospital with her.

As soon as she arrived at the hospital, she called Andre and told him to call 911. She also called her brother to stay with Andre.

The paramedics arrived and told him he didn’t need to be hospitalized and he can recover at home. Andre decided to leave the door unlocked in case he needed emergency medical help again.

“I’m alone, with no doctors. My wife is at the hospital. It’s you versus the virus,” Andre recalled. “There were a couple of times it was touch and go. It was scary. … I knew that I was one push away from where it could take me out.”

But he was thankful to live through the night because the next day, on April 3, Jen gave birth to their twins.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, the doctors and nurses scrambled to find a room for Jen.

They needed to find a special room for her because she has covid-19 exposure through Andre. They couldn’t place her in the same room as other pregnant moms and the newborns.

Eventually, they placed her in a room for covid-19 patients because the doctors hoped they can keep her from going into labor two more weeks.

The boys weren’t having it, though.

At 5 am the next day, Jen had her first contractions. At 9:41 am, she gave birth to Mitchell. Ten minutes later, his brother, Maksim, followed.

Unfortunately, because of her situation, Jen wasn’t able to hold her sons yet. The nurses had to take the babies to the other side of the room to be cleaned. They held up the babies so Jen could see them and take a picture for Andre.

“It was both incredible and surreal,” Andre recalled. “It was great to see them and know that they’re OK. [They] gave me a reason to fight. I see those pictures and I think, ’I better get through this. ‘I’ve got things to take care of now.’”

Unfortunately, Jen tested positive and couldn’t visit the babies yet.

The babies tested negative for covid-19 but they had to spend time in the NICU because they were born prematurely.

Jen was discharged and spent the next three weeks in quarantine with her husband at home. They could only see their sons through low-quality video calls.

And when they got the call that they were finally clear and they could see their sons, they were ecstatic.

They were glad, thought, that the twins had to spend their first weeks in the NICU.

“It was kind of a blessing because we were in no shape to take care of our little newborns,” Andre said.

Besides testing positive, Jen also suffered from postpartum preeclampsia, a rarer form of a pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure. She had to go back to the hospital for more care.

This experience has taught them a valuable lesson.

“Don’t take the moments that you have with the people you love for granted,” Andre shared. “You just gotta cherish every day that you have.”

Want to see Andre and Jennifer Laubach finally meet their sons, Mitch and Maksim? Watch the video below.

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Source: Good Morning America, NBC 12, Good Morning America, Jacksonville.com