'Idol' Alum Casey Goode Shares the Shock, Isolation, & Calm of Having an Infant With COVID-19

Let’s take a moment to bow down to the parents who have welcomed babies into the world in 2020, when all the normally difficult tasks of caring for a newborn are now so much harder and scarier. Influencer and musician Casey Goode, a.k.a. Quigley, recently shared the nightmare experience of being in the hospital with her weeks-old baby who had COVID-19. It puts any sleepless nights we experienced at home into quite a bit of perspective.

“I was in just complete and utter shock,” the American Idol alum told People of her reaction to Maximilian’s diagnosis. “But the craziest thing is, your maternal instincts kick in, and you don’t have any choice but to be really strong for your baby. It’s so bizarre. I felt this total calm, confident energy wave over my body that he would need that from me.”

Born at 37 weeks, he had been in the NICU for eight days before he got to come home, but just a few days later, he had a 101 fever. Goode said on Instagram at the time that doctors suspected he contracted the virus from a medical professional at the hospital, but now she said he may have contracted it from pediatrician they visited afterward.

Because of COVID-19 safety protocols, Goode’s husband, Alex Goode, couldn’t be with them in the hospital. And in order to be able to see Max, Goode had to be isolated with him for his entire stay in the pediatric intensive care unit. If she left, she wouldn’t be allowed to return. She said nothing was going to separate her from her baby then.

Though the scary situation is new, many of us can identify with that clarity of purpose that Goode felt.

“The hardest part is just seeing your son … with all of the cords. He was hooked up to oxygen. It was really hard to see how uncomfortable he probably was.”

She spent her entire time in the hospital either napping or caring for Max, and said she barely even spoke to anyone else. We are currently imagining the sleeplessness of an ICU room combined with a sleeplessness of having a newborn, combined with the sleeplessness of knowing your child is sick with a deadly virus, and just, wow.

“I’m a person who always looks for a silver lining and I just kept telling myself, ‘Okay, we’re in isolation, but this is a precious time for me and him to bond,'” she told People.

After six days, they were discharged from the hospital, and Goode was elated.

“You don’t realize or appreciate how beautiful the sky is after not looking at it for a week,” she said.

Back at home, Goode’s social media posts are sounding a lot more like a typical new mom.

“It’s been messy, it’s been chaotic, it’s been glorious, it’s been tiring, it’s been magical and it’s been the most insanely UNIQUE experience of my life,” she wrote on Instagram over the weekend, celebrating Max’s 1-month birthday. “Nothing I’ve ever experience is quite like it. It has felt like one giant never ending day. The moments of peace are utter bliss, and then there are hours of baby screams where you’ve tried everything and your back hurts and you’re hungry and you just wanna pee quick but u can’t. You treasure every moment with your baby, but showering and the rare few minutes of ‘alone time’ take on a whole new meaning.”

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