A moment of panic. Before revealing that she’s expecting baby No. 2, Shawn Johnson East feared that the coronavirus pandemic could impact her pregnancy after husband Andrew East learned that he’d tested positive for the illness.
The couple, who wed in April 2016, announced in a YouTube video on Friday, January 15, that they have another little one on the way after welcoming daughter Drew in November 2019. In the early stages of the former Olympian’s pregnancy, her husband, 29, received a call that he’d contracted COVID-19.
![Shawn Johnson Feared Possible Miscarriage After Husband's Positive COVID Test](/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Shawn-Johnson-Feared-Possible-Miscarriage-After-Husbands-Positive-COVID-Test.jpg?w=1000&quality=86&strip=all)
“We were in this time of celebration and we wanted to tell her parents and her friends [about the baby], then I ended up having to friggin’ self-isolate for 10 days,” Andrew explained, without going into much detail about his symptoms.
Trying to navigate the situation as safely as possible was “confusing” for the family, Shawn, 28, added. “We were scared to begin with that you had COVID. We weren’t sure if Drew had it, we weren’t sure if I had it. So I was calling her pediatrician, I was calling my [doctor]. … I was like, ‘What do we do? Do I need to worry about being pregnant?’ … I got so scared of potentially increasing my risks of miscarriage.”
The retired gymnast previously suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage in October 2017. “I have been crying more than I ever have, but am still optimistic for what is next,” Shawn said in a vlog at the time, describing her “roller-coaster” of emotions. Despite her previous ups and downs in conceiving, the Iowa native recently told Us Weekly exclusively that she was ready to keep expanding her family.
“I feel like it was around the one-year mark [with Drew], which was a month ago, that we finally were, like, ‘OK, we feel like ourselves again,'” Shawn said in December. “We’re ready to kind of go down that route. … We would love a baby any time.”
The biggest challenge for Andrew amid his coronavirus battle was isolating himself from his loved ones. However, the former football player acknowledged that “all things considered,” he and Shawn “have it very easy” when it comes to dealing with the global health crisis.
“Having a wife who you just found is pregnant, who you wanted to support and celebrate with and hug and cuddle … it was not the ideal situation,” Andrew said. “But I’m excited for this new journey. We don’t know what it’s about to look like.”