Birth is a miracle without a doubt. Think about it – you grow a brand new human being inside you. Could there be anything more miraculous than this? We think there is.
Recently, a pregnant woman in Hanoi, who was involved in a car crash and was in a coma for almost the entire time she was carrying her baby, gave birth to a healthy baby girl while still comatose.
Doctors saw her through the pregnancy, monitoring the baby until week 38. The miracle is that the woman reacted to stimuli (like pinching) after she had safely delivered her baby via a C-section. Doctors said they expected recovery in next few days following the delivery of the baby.
Woman Gives Birth in Coma
Source: Pexels
According to reports, the woman was five months pregnant when she got into a car accident. And it was this accident that put her in critical condition.
Miraculously, the baby was unharmed. However, the woman was at risk of death with serious brain injuries.
Surgeons decided to operate on her, but she was left in a comatose state until her baby was born. Throughout this ordeal, her baby remained stable.
Nurses and doctors continued to monitor the baby’s development. On week 38, the baby was delivered safely through a C-section procedure.
The baby girl was in perfect health upon delivery despite having gone through the trauma of a car accident, a surgery and developing in a comatose mother.
The girl weighed 3.2 kilograms upon birth, said doctors of Thanh Nhan Hospital in Hanoi. Could it be the miracle of a mother’s love and protection? We think so! Let’s hope that her baby’s love helps her come out of her coma soon.
Not the First Time a Woman Gives Birth in Coma
Though it is extremely rare for mothers to be able to give birth to their babies while in a coma, this is
not the first time something like this has happened.
One of the
longest cases of a mother being in a coma (and giving birth while comatose) lasted for two years.
Needless to say, cases of women going in to comas while pregnant are extremely rare. Giving birth while in a coma is even more rare.
In Singapore, there is one known case that was reported in the New Paper back in 2001 – Madam Rohaidah Mohd Saniof who was eight months pregnant when she slipped into a coma.
Under the expert care of doctors at NUH, Madam Rohaidah delivered a beautiful baby girl who was named Shazanani.
Dr Timothy Lee, a senior consultant nuerosurgeon who helped look after Madam Rohaidah explained in the New Paper report that she had a blood clot in her brain, which caused the coma. He also said that even if a pregnant mother is in a coma, as long as she is kept alive, the baby can easily survive too.
How is it possible?
We also asked Dr Peter Chew, who is a well-respected obstetrician and gynecologist here in Singapore, for his professional opinion on how a pregnant woman in a coma could deliver a baby. Here’s what he had to say:
- It is possible to maintain the blood flow to the womb and the placenta in a comatose patient.
- As long as the blood pressure is maintained and the heart continues to pump, placental perfusion would be adequate.
- The foetus would continue to grow inside the womb until the optimal time for delivery decided by the obstetrician.
