
An American woman and her newborn son shocked doctors by coming back to life after they appeared to have died during labour. Tracy Hermanstorfer's heart stopped after she was taken into a delivery room in Colorado on Christmas Eve. Surgeons performed an emergency caesarean section to try to save the 3.3kg baby. Minutes later they gave her husband Mike the heartbreaking news that they had been unable to revive his wife and that his newborn son, Coltyn, was not likely to survive either.
Then, as Mr Hermanstorfer held the lifeless infant in his hands, he felt the boy slowly begin to move, at the same time as his wife inexplicably began to breathe again. "My legs went out from underneath me," he said. "I had everything in the world taken from me ... then had everything given to me.
Doctors at Memorial Hospital, Colorado Springs, said there was no logical explanation for their sudden recovery. Dr Stephanie Martin said the woman's heart stopped beating for four minutes."She was dead. She had no heartbeat, no breathing, no blood pressure. She was as grey as her sweatsuit and there were no signs of life," Dr Martin said."The baby was basically limp, with a very slow heart rate. We did a thorough evaluation and can't find anything that explains why this happened."
Mr Hermanstorfer, 37, said he and his 33-year-old wife were convinced they had witnessed divine intervention."We are both believers but this right here, even a non-believer, you explain to me how this happened. There is no other explanation," he said. "Half of my family was lying right there in front of me in my hands, there's no other way to say it, but dead."
He said his wife had begun to feel sleepy as she was being prepared for the delivery. "She literally stopped breathing and her heart stopped. I was holding her hand when we realised she was gone," he said. "I lost all feeling. Once her heartbeat stopped, I felt like mine did too." Doctors and nurses tried cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, but were unsuccessful.
After the caesarean, some of the medical team continued to try to revive Mrs Hermanstorfer, while others worked to get Coltyn breathing. "They actually got him started right there in my hands," Mr Hermanstorfer said. "That's a feeling like none other. Life actually began in the palm of my hands."
Mrs Hermanstorfer, who came back to life moments later, said she recalled nothing of the incident. "I just felt like I was asleep," she said. When she was told what had happened, she said: "I'm like, holy cow, was it that bad? Wow! I got a second chance at life."
More:
http://www.smh.com.au/world/mother-and-son-come-back-to-life-after-dying-during-labour-20091231-lkh0.html