Mom 'Dies' During Childbirth, Comes Back to Life 45 Minutes Later

A South Florida woman whose heart stopped during a routine C-section to deliver a baby girl is being heralded as a miracle by medical professionals.

Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro had just given birth to her daughter when her heart stopped with no warning, CBS news reported. Medical staff worked for 45 minutes trying to revive her. They had just told Graupera-Cassimiro’s family she was gone when the unexpected happened.

As staff at Boca Raton Regional Hospital watched the heart monitors, waiting to record an official time of death, Graupera-Cassimiro’s heart began beating again.

“There’s very few things in medicine that I’ve seen, working in the trauma center myself and doing all the things that I do, that really were either unexplainable or miraculous,” the Sun-Sentinel  quoted the hospital’s medical staff president Dr. Anthony Dardano as saying.

This case, he said, was one of those.

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The problem was caused by an amniotic fluid embolism, the paper reported. This happens when the fluid surrounding the baby in the uterus backs up into the mother’s bloodstream, according to the Mayo Clinic. This condition is generally diagnosed postmortem. Living through an amniotic embolism is rare. But, surviving almost 45 minutes is practically unheard of, CBS reported.

Mother and baby are both doing fine following the Sept. 23 near-death experience.

Hospital staff have dubbed Graupera-Cassimiro the “Second Miracle on Meadow Roads.” The hospital is located at 800 Meadows Road in Boca Raton. Staff call the hospital itself the first miracle.

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