PROUD Natasha Sokunbi hugs her miracle baby — born while she was “dead”.
Natasha’s heart stopped for 14 minutes after she collapsed in an A&E waiting room when 37 weeks pregnant.
Proud Natasha Sokunbi, 30, hugs baby Beau, who was born while she was ‘dead’[/caption]
Natasha cradles her miracle baby after emerging from a coma[/caption]
Quick-thinking medics raced against time, with a 30-strong team performing an emergency Caesarean section while at the same time giving the mum air and performing chest compressions.
Natasha then had to be put into a coma and did not meet her new daughter until three days after the delivery drama.
Yesterday, she told The Sun: “My heart wasn’t beating when the doctors delivered Beau. I was basically dead when they pulled her out.
“The doctors and the medical teams were amazing. We can never fully put what they’ve done for us into words.”
Dr Andrew Bennett, one of the first medics on the scene, said: “As far as I’m aware, it’s pretty unheard of for both the mum and baby to survive in this situation.
“It is testament to the speed of the response of everyone on our clinical teams, who were incredible.
“There is only a matter of minutes after mum’s heart stops until baby’s stops too, but we were fortunate to deliver her in time and she still had a pulse.
“Staff literally ran from the other side of the hospital to come to her aid. It was nothing short of miraculous.”
Care support worker Natasha, 30, was around three weeks away from the due date for her second daughter when she called 111 for help with a chest infection.
They told her to go to casualty and after a 25-minute taxi ride, she arrived at Royal Stoke Hospital at around 8am on December 3.
She checked herself in at reception but went into cardiac arrest five minutes later.
She recalled: “The last thing I remember was walking through triage and I felt dizzy and collapsed.
“Then I was in and out of consciousness while they were doing CPR and the C-section.
“I was so confused and I was in a lot of pain — it felt like somebody stepping on my chest.
“After that my next memory was hearing my husband and my sister talking next to my bed and I was trying to wake up but I couldn’t because I had been put into a coma.
“My husband was telling me to, ‘Please wake up’. When I came round, I noticed I didn’t have a baby in my belly and that was so scary.
“They told me what had happened but I couldn’t believe it until my husband showed me a photo and told me it was a girl.
Natasha with husband Ayo and elder daughter Love[/caption]
Natasha recovering in hospital with Beau and Ayo[/caption]
“I felt so guilty because I had fallen straight on to my stomach and I thought I’d hurt the baby.”
Natasha added: “While I was in hospital I was terrified my heart was going to stop again. I couldn’t sleep for three days because I was afraid I wouldn’t wake up and I’d never see my children again.”
Both mother and baby Beau, now two months old, were home in Stafford in time for Christmas with husband Ayo, 29, and other daughter, Love, who is 16 months.
Natasha has had a defibrillator fitted to combat a genetic heart condition that she had been treated for in the past but had believed to be under control.
She added: “I knew getting pregnant was a risk but everything was fine in the checks with my cardiologist — the pregnancy was going really well.”
This is said to be a once in a career event for an emergency doctor
Dr Bennett
Dr Bennett, 34, said: “Natasha is phenomenally lucky that she came to A&E. If it had happened anywhere else, the outcome would have been quite different.
“It was simultaneously one of the most terrible things to see happen to a person and one of the proudest moments of my career to see so many people work together that quickly and deliver outstanding care.
“This is said to be a once in a career event for an emergency doctor. My heart goes out to Natasha and her family and I was overjoyed to hear that they had been discharged and made it home in time for Christmas.”
Natasha, originally from the Welsh Valleys, went on: “I am taking it day by day and had to learn to walk again but we are both much better now.
“Being a mum of two is great and I’m regaining my strength and independence.
Mum Natasha with her baby and a medic at the hospital[/caption]
Brave Natasha shows her scars left behind after medic’s spent 14 minutes trying to resuscitate her[/caption]
“Now I’m much more appreciative of life and won’t take anything for granted ever again.” The life-saving procedure Natasha had is called a resuscitative hysterotomy.
Hospital crews typically use a mask to pump air into the patient’s lungs and a combination of chest compressions and zaps from a defibrillator for the CPR.
A study last year estimated that the chance of both mother and baby surviving the procedure could be as low as 4.5 per cent.
Dr Bennett was not involved with the study but told The Sun: “It seems as though the baby only tends to survive when the cardiac arrest happens in hospital — it makes a big difference.
“Anything that you do while CPR is going on becomes more difficult because of all the movement.
Natasha is phenomenally lucky that she came to A&E
Dr Andrew Bennett
“The mother’s survival is the priority but being pregnant can make resuscitation more difficult so getting the baby out, if it is the right age, quite quickly becomes an equal factor.
“This is as urgent as a C-section can possibly be.
“And then you go from having one patient who needs resuscitation to possibly having two who need it at the same time, so you need a huge number of clinical teams.”
Dozens of staff from at least five departments were drafted in to pull it off, many of them just about to clock off after a night shift.
The heroic medics involved have since received the Chief Executive Award from University Hospitals of the North Midlands NHS Trust.
The chances of both mother and baby surviving the procedure were staggeringly low[/caption]
Both Natasha and Beau, now two months old, were able to go back to their home in Stafford in time for Christmas[/caption]
Doctors say Natasha was ‘phenomenally lucky’ and the outcome could have been ‘very different’[/caption]
Timeline of emergency
WE take a look at how pregnant Natasha went from what she thought was just a chest infection to the brink of death — before a joyful reunion with her family.
December 2: Pregnant Natasha calls NHS 111 feeling unwell with a chest infection.
December 3, 7.30am: Natasha takes a taxi to A&E at the Royal Stoke Hospital, 25 minutes away from her home in Stafford.
8am: She arrives at A&E and checks in with reception.
8.05am: Natasha collapses in the waiting room and staff start CPR.
8.10am: Beau is delivered by C-section.
8.20am: Natasha’s heart is restarted and she is placed in an induced coma.
December 4: Natasha comes round from the coma.
December 6: Mum and baby are united for the first time.
December 17: Natasha is discharged and she is back home for Christmas with hubby Ayo, baby Beau and their other daughter, 16-month-old Love.
