Prisma Health helps NC woman witness birth of first grandchild during pandemic

Columbia, SC (WOLO) — Hospitals have been closed to the visitors in order to reduce the risk of exposure to coronavirus for months. Still, that wasn’t going to keep one North Carolina woman from being able to witness the birth of her first grand baby.

Tomiko Plummer’s daughter is stationed at Shaw Air force Base and when it came time to head to the hospital to deliver she did what most grandmother’s to be would do, jump in her car and head to South Carolina to be by her daughters side. When she arrived though, she learned she would not be able to enter the hospital so she found a tech savvy way to join her instead.

Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital let Plummer use two of their portable chargers so she wouldn’t run out of batery life on her devices during the birth.

Barbara Kenaway a manager of the Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital Nursery and Family place says,

“We are so grateful for the technology that gives us the ability to help families share in these memorable moments,”

Hospital officials say they typically offer an IPad to mothers to be to help them connect with family member via Facetime since they are not able to be in the delivery room.

 “We had a new mom who had a cesarean section and was unable to see her baby right away,…Dad was in the Nursery Facetiming her, so she didn’t have to wait to see her newborn child.”

 New mom , Kelisia Darden-Artis says she is so glad her mother was able to be a part of this memorable experience along with her husband who was by her side during the birth, as her mother looked on using a computer from the hospital courtyard.

Image: Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital

Image: Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital

“This is my first one and I wanted my momma to be here,” Kelisia said, “but with Facetime, I’ll feel like she’s right there.”

“It was overwhelming,” Tomiko said. “This baby was going to be born into a world in crisis, with a pandemic and all the protests. I didn’t want to disappoint her, and I wanted to be there to coach her through it. So, I brought my MacBook and iPad and iPhones – two of them! – and my Dallas Cowboys blanket, and I’ve found a place to ‘camp out’ during the laboring. COVID is not going to stop me from being there for my girl!”

Tomiko coached her daughter through the entire delivery process admitting that she could tell by the look on her daughter’s face when she was having contractions. Each time, reminding her daughter to breathe, focus and know she was there with her. Even telling her “You’re gonna be a soldier through this. When you hear your baby girl cry, it’s gonna be worth it.”

Image: Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital

Kelisia, a Shaw Air Force Base airman first class gave birth to her daughter, Navaeh Artis at 2p.m. June 11, 2020