GONZALES - Earlier this month, an EBR mother lost her baby to complications from COVID-19. Now, a newborn baby has lost a mother the same way.

“It's hard because we need each other. We can't get through this without family and being able to lean on each other,” Kyra Cushenberry said.

Ajoraica B. Parker, Kyra's relative, was awaiting her new baby girl as the coronavirus spread throughout the world.

Like many other people, even as stay-at-home orders were issued, Parker still had to go to work.

“She was taking the proper precautions to keep herself safe, to quarantine as she could. But I guess with something like this with so many unanswered questions, we don't know exactly what we could've done to prevent this,” Cushenberry said.

Back in March, Parker started having chest pains. And less than three weeks after her 31st birthday, at seven months pregnant with her third child, she was admitted into Woman's Hospital.

“That Tuesday they ended up having to take the baby. She was having some complications, and she developed pneumonia in one of her lungs. And then she tested positive for the COVID-19,” Cushenberry said.

Although the baby was born premature, she survived, but her mother's condition grew worse.

“As far as like having family up there, she was kind of alone the whole time,” Cushenberry said. “She had been on a ventilator since they had taken the baby, and for the duration of her being in the hospital she had stayed on the ventilator."

Parker lost her battle with coronavirus on Easter Sunday, just three weeks after being admitted to the hospital, leaving her family to grieve in the age of social distancing.

“We've just been using what we can. You know social media, Facetime, things in that nature so we can still be connected,” Cushenberry said.

Only allowed a graveside service limited to a small portion of their large family, they are left mourning while they try to figure out how to better protect themselves.

“With people having essential jobs, because a lot of people in our family do have essential jobs, what other steps can they take to make sure they're safe and make sure they're not bringing it home to the family members who live with them?” Cushenberry said.

According to Parker’s family, her newborn daughter is still in the NICU and has tested negative for COVID-19.

The family hopes that they have a more appropriate celebration of life in the future once the virus spread stops.