Posted on 12/30/2009 8:41:37 AM PST by RGirard
Tracy Hermanstorfer, 33, went in to deliver her baby at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs on December 24th, but her heart stopped beating during childbirth and the baby was delivered showing no signs of life.
"She literally stopped breathing and her heart stopped," her husband, Mike Hermanstorfer, told The Associated Press. Doctors and nurses tried to revive her with chest compressions, and a breathing tube, to no avail.
...
Stephanie Martin, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at the hospital estimates Tracy Hermanstorfer had no heartbeat for about four minutes. "She had no signs of life. No heartbeat, no blood pressure, she wasn't breathing ... The baby was, it was basically limp, with a very slow heart rate."
Ms. Martin said she cannot explain the mother's cardiac arrest or the recovery. "We did a thorough evaluation and can't find anything that explains why this happened."
Mike Hermanstorfer credits "the hand of God." ...
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
that is the kind of stories I like to read...
Normal kids only get the "I went through 20 hours of hard labor to give birth to you" guilt trip.
This one's gonna get "I DIED giving birth to you..."
lol - Great observation!
This is not an uncommon story at Memorial. Our son is alive today (and wasting his dearly bought life in front of the Xbox this morning) because of the folks at that hospital. This includes our pediatrician who retired yesterday (Congrats Dr. Genrich!).
The OB picked up an anomaly at 7 months which not one in 10,000 usually survive. Our pediatrician referred to him as “Lucky” when we dropped in to deliver a gift basket and pick up our charts.
They do a great job at Memorial. More than one of us is alive in this family because of them.
Sorry, but “dead” does not come back to life. Death is irreversible. If a person continues living, he/she was not dead.
There is no need to see a “miracle” in natural phenomena.
so then how do you determine if a person is dead?
My wife works for memorial Hospital In Springs. Everyone there is amazed by this story.
Ping to #3
Wonderful...
Call it an anomaly or a miracle.
Either way, give God the glory He deserves. ‘k?
Absolutely. Their children's ICU is truly amazing. My son was in there when he was diagnosed with diabetes, and a friend's little girl was there with a severe head injury.... Marvelous people.
I didn’t know about that saying in Ecclesiastes - that’s great!
It just doesn't happen that way. It was ten months ago today that I held my Mom's hand as she slipped away.....needless to say, she didn't have a sudden drop in body temperature.
I have been at the bedside of many terminal patients. Dying is a process as opposed to an event. It’s a passage.
That being said, there are always exceptions. We had a young woman diagnosed with breast cancer. There was nothing to be done as she did not seek medical attention until the cancer had spread.
Even so, she had time to come to terms with her situation. Or so we thought.
I was getting her out of bed to a bedside chair. After she dangled her legs over the side of the bed for a few minutes, we were helping her to a standing position. Her eyes rolled back in her head, she went limp. We managed to get her back in the bed quickly, but she was dead. (She was a DNR). I have never seen anyone go so quickly from a terminal illness.
That is why I cannot discount this story.
Good news story ping
“I have never seen anyone go so quickly from a terminal illness.”
My sainted father is still cussing a patient from Heaven over this. He was a GP/General-Surgeon, and was seeing a stroke patient in her hospital room that had just been brought in by EMS. The first thing she slurred was, “When can I drive again?”.
He told here that it would be some time before that might happen. Her response was, “Well, I’m just going to die then”.
He turned to his nurse and started giving a briefing on what was to be done for the patient (a fairly short time). When he turned back to the patient, she was in the process of rapidly expiring. Within three or four minutes she was dead.
My father stated that he had never seen anything like it. He commented, “That %(*&$ just did it to spite me, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it!”. It was very frustrating for him. So yes, one can die suddenly. This anecdote does make one wonder whether an act of will can assist in such a “transition”. Of course, the lady was in a very serious situation and just happened to expire suddenly at that time......probably.
But how about the “hand went suddenly cold” line?
I can’t explain it. Do I think she was clinically dead and suddenly came back to life? No. But there was some anomalie present.
It is not uncommon for women to get chills immediately after giving birth. I did with all 3 of mine. You would have thought I was standing nekkid as a jay bird at the North Pole. Body shaking, teeth chattering , the works. She could have had something like that—her body “resetting” so to speak.
I am sorry about your Mom. While her death was probably one of the most saddest moments of your life, I am sure you would not trade being with her for all of the money in the world.
One thing a nurse learns quickly is a terminal patient can choose (and often does) the moment of death. ( Maybe the moment of passing is more accurate.)
As much as we know about the physical aspects of death and dying, we know very little about the spiritual process of death.
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