A nurse in Ohio just had a baby, but she won't know it until she's taken off a ventilator.

The 27-year-old nurse has been hospitalised for more than two weeks while being treated for coronavirus. She first noticed her symptoms in late March and is currently sedated and on a ventilator according to WDTN News.

The woman gave birth last week, and her doctors determined she had to undergo an emergency C-section to protect her and the child.

"Her lungs were pretty much failing and at the same time they had to get the baby out in order to save her and the baby," her sister-in-law Kacie Jefferies told WHIO-TV.

The nurse's child — a boy — has tested negative for Covid-19 and is currently in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Ms Jefferies said the plight of her sister-in-law is a reminder as to why people need to take social distancing guidelines seriously.

"Never in a million years would we have thought our 27-year-old sister would be infected with this virus and almost lose her life. People have got to take this seriously," Ms Jefferies told local news station WDTN. "She was a nurse, she is essential, she had to go to work. So we need to stay home for the nurses and doctors and the people who are essential."

Doctors have had to make difficult decisions while treating pregnant women with coronavirus.

The New York Times reported the story of a 31-year-old pregnant woman with coronavirus, who doctors believed would have a better chance of survival if she had her baby, though her due date was still two weeks away.