I was ‘clinically dead’ when I gave birth to my daughter
A mum has shared how she suffered a cardiac arrest while heavily pregnant, which caused her heart to stop. After being declared 'clinically dead' for 14 minutes she was put into an induced coma and woke up to discover she had given birth.
Natasha Sokunbi, 30, a care support worker from Stafford was 37 weeks pregnant when she started experiencing chest pains and found herself struggling to breathe. Having called 111 she was advised to go to A&E where she collapsed in the waiting room.
Doctors at Royal Stoke University Hospital desperately tried to bring Natasha back to life, while also battling to save her unborn baby. Thankfully, just four minutes after being rushed into surgery her baby daughter Beau was safely delivered via emergency caesarean section weighing 6lbs 7oz.
Medical staff spent more than 30 minutes resuscitating Natasha before she was stable enough to be put into an induced coma. She woke up the following day in the critical care unit and was told she had had given birth to a girl.
"My heart wasn't beating when the doctors delivered Beau," Natasha says of her daughter's dramatic arrival. "I was basically dead when they pulled her out. One team of medics were delivering her via C-section while another team performed CPR on me. The next thing I remember was when I woke up in intensive care and my husband walked over to me with a photo of Beau and said 'it’s a girl'. We hadn't found out the sex so it was a complete surprise."
As she was still very weak, it was a few days before the Natasha was able to meet her new daughter.
Natasha and her husband Ayo, 29, also a support worker, had been looking forward to the birth of their second child when the mum-to-be found herself feeling unwell due to a chest infection. "On that morning I called 111 who advised me to make my way to the Royal Stoke," Natasha explains. "I got a taxi to the hospital and went into triage and told them I was really having problems breathing and they told me to wait. As I walked back into the waiting room I collapsed and fell forward onto my baby bump."
Natasha says she remembers aspects of what happened next including the doctors performing CPR and using a defibrillator on her. "When I was having the C-section I remember being in pain but then everything went black."
After Beau was delivered, doctors called Natasha’s husband who rushed to her bedside. "Ayo had no idea I was in hospital because he was asleep with our other daughter when I took a taxi to A&E. When he received the call he thought they were telling him that I’d had the baby but they said he should get here straight away. He was so good. When I was in the coma I can remember hearing him talking to me saying 'Come on Tash, please wake up'."
Natasha spent three weeks in hospital and had an ICD heart-starter device fitted to prevent her suffering another cardiac arrest in the future. The mum-of-two is now back home and looking after Beau and her 15-month-old daughter, Love.
"I have had heart problems and I think the pregnancy put extra strain on me," she explains. "I still have flash backs and worry that it’ll happen again but I’m just so grateful to the doctors for saving me and Beau."
While Natasha says she struggled to hold her daughter at first she is now regaining her strength and independence. "Being a mum of two is great," she says. "Now I’m much more appreciative of life and won’t take anything for granted ever again."
In recognition of their actions staff involved in the care of Natasha and Beau have been presented with the Chief Executive Award. Dr Andrew Bennett, who was one of the first doctors to treat Natasha, says: "This has got to be one of the proudest moments that this department really has ever seen and that collaborative effect from all involved was incredible."
Senior sister, Alison Hopwell, added: “It’s a rare event but it happened and it happened on a very busy December morning. However, the whole team pulled together on that morning.”
Natasha says she is so "grateful" to the hospital staff for their actions on December 3. "I was really poorly but the doctors and medical teams were amazing. They saved my baby and they saved me.”
Read more about pregnancy and birth:
Pregnant Michelle Keegan on the pressure to have kids straight after marriage (Yahoo Life UK, 3-min read)
I thought I was menopausal at age 45. I was actually pregnant (Independent, 7-min read)
Having been alone in hospital with twins, I know neonatal care leave is key (Yahoo Life UK, 9-min read)
