MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The birth of a child should be one of the happiest, most memorable experiences in a family’s life, but COVID-19 has prevented one Tennessee infant from coming home to her loved ones.

Lane and Aliceson Byrd will never forget the day their daughter Emma was born.

“We were nervous and excited and all the above,” Aliceson Byrd said.

Emma arrived three weeks early in Jackson, Tennessee.

Within a couple of days, doctors discovered Emma was suffering from vocal cord paralysis, which was restricting her oxygen intake.

Her parents moved her to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis for corrective surgery just days before COVID-19 turned the world upside-down.

“The operating room was closed down, only for emergencies,” Lane Byrd said. “The scope was considered an elective procedure, so they weren’t able to do the scope because of COVID-19.”

For weeks now, baby Emma has been waiting at Le Bonheur for her surgery, but her mother Aliceson is able to visit regularly until the CDC changes surgery guidelines or the hospital is able to make an exception.

“Emma doesn’t get to see her dad until all of this blows over,” Aliceson Byrd said.

The Byrds have started a campaign begging Tennesseans and Americans to stay home so that one day soon, their baby Emma can come home.

“Please just stay at home so that Lane can see his daughter, and we can get back to normal,” Aliceson said.

There is no current timetable for when Tennessee hospitals will be able to perform elective procedures again.