‘Uncharted territory’

Kristen Jordan Shamus, USA TODAY
·4 min read
Madelynn Birchmeier works with Physical Therapist Jenae Swiercz at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as her parents, Nicole and Adam Birchmeier watch. At more than a year old, she's unable to crawl, walk, stand or even hold her body up while sitting after suffering long-haul COVID-19.
Madelynn Birchmeier works with Physical Therapist Jenae Swiercz at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as her parents, Nicole and Adam Birchmeier watch. At more than a year old, she's unable to crawl, walk, stand or even hold her body up while sitting after suffering long-haul COVID-19.

Madelynn Birchmeier was born with clear blue eyes and the palest of blond hair – in the midst of the global pandemic.

By that June day in 2020, her parents, Nicole and Adam Birchmeier, were all too aware of the risks. They both work in medicine – she is a nurse, and he’s in medical referrals – and they weren’t willing to take any chances with their first child.

“She was a COVID baby, so we didn’t see anybody,” Nicole said. Still, the virus found its way into their small family home in Muskegon Township, just a few miles from the shores of Lake Michigan.

In late October, Nicole hugged the grieving widow of a patient who’d just died.

“The patient was negative and then turned positive, and I got it,” she said. “We just had surgical masks on, and I gave the wife a hug. She needed it. I would do it again.”

When she went home that night, Nicole wore a mask. Adam did, too, as a precaution. They kept wearing masks at home, but a week later, Nicole tested positive.

Madelynn Birchmeier reaches to have her hand kissed by her mother, Nicole, as her father, Adam, reads her a story in the living room of their home in Muskegon.
Madelynn Birchmeier reaches to have her hand kissed by her mother, Nicole, as her father, Adam, reads her a story in the living room of their home in Muskegon.

Madelynn soon grew feverish.

“We just assumed that she had COVID, but then she started developing pneumonia,” Adam said.

Nicole took Madelynn to the emergency room of a nearby hospital.

“The doctor came in and he said, ‘I know you’re a nurse, and you know how it is here.’ At that time, the hospital was packed,” Nicole recalled. “So he’s like: ‘It’s up to you. I can admit her or I can send you home with these guidelines and if they get worse, come back in.’ So I said, ‘Send us home.’

“I bawled. I told Adam, ‘I made our baby sick.’ ”

For three months, Madelynn was given albuterol breathing treatments and a revolving list of antibiotics to clear the pneumonia.

“That was three months where she didn't really want to do much of anything besides cuddle with us. Maddie has always been a really bad sleeper. We noticed though, after the COVID, we couldn't get her to go to sleep at night. We were up with her all night long. Her insomnia was so bad.”

There were other alarming signs. Maddie had stopped rolling over. She couldn’t hold a bottle. As time went on, the list of things the baby wasn’t doing grew longer. She wasn’t eating solid food. She wasn’t able to sit up on her own. She wasn’t crawling or standing. She didn’t wave or reach for things. It seemed hard for Madelynn to do two things at once.

Then came her 9-month checkup.

“When we did our scoring, she was five months behind on gross motor and six months behind on fine motor” skills, Nicole said.

Maddie was referred to Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Dr. Lisa Voss evaluated her.

Madelynn does strengthening exercises to help catch up on her developmental milestones with Physical Therapist Jenae Swiercz.
Madelynn does strengthening exercises to help catch up on her developmental milestones with Physical Therapist Jenae Swiercz.
Despite taking precautions, as an infant Madelynn caught COVID-19 after her mother, a nurse at a local hospital, became infected after she hugged a patient’s widow.
Despite taking precautions, as an infant Madelynn caught COVID-19 after her mother, a nurse at a local hospital, became infected after she hugged a patient’s widow.

“We would expect her to be creeping around on her own, likely crawling, pulling herself up to stand, and not necessarily having words but jabbering a lot,” said Voss, a pediatric physical medicine and rehab physician. “When she came in to see us at 10 months, she wasn't really doing anything.”

There were no signs of neurological problems, but it seemed as if Madelynn had stopped progressing developmentally when she contracted COVID-19.

“We saw her and unanimously decided that this kid needs therapy right away,” Voss said. “No one can say for certain the direct cause of her symptomatology, but her symptoms are directly correlated to the timing of her infection of COVID.”

Madelynn now goes for regular outpatient therapy at Mary Free Bed and continues the work at home with her mom and dad. They are trying to help build her coordination, core muscle strength and tone in her arms and legs.

“We need to tackle the big things, sitting, crawling, before we can tackle the little things,” Nicole said.

In July, Madelynn started rolling over again. She can now hold her head up on her own and can sit supported.

Nicole still has to feed Madelyn. "I just want her to get up and walk and make a mess and feed herself," she says.
Nicole still has to feed Madelyn. "I just want her to get up and walk and make a mess and feed herself," she says.

Nicole and Adam say it’s anyone’s guess how soon Madelynn will build the strength to be able to do the other things most babies her age can do – or whether she will at all.

“There’s really not a whole lot of research out on babies and COVID,” Nicole said. “People need to realize that it’s so different with a COVID baby because nobody knows what to do, and we’re just taking it one day at a time.”

Their little girl is getting stronger every day and is more deliberate in her movements now. On a morning in early August, she rolled across their living room floor and reached into the toy basket for a rubber giraffe.

Nicole, smiled, watching her, hopeful.

“We’re in uncharted territory,” Adam said. “We’re just following along with the program, trust the scientists and trust the experts. It’s the only thing we can do right now.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: After COVID, Michigan baby Madelynn Birchmeier's future is uncertain