Mother's Day: Woman Celebrates Motherhood After Giving Birth While in Coma
- This will be the first Mothers' Day for 29-year-old Serena Torres
- What stands out is the fact that she delivered last year while in an induced coma
- She missed death by a whisker courtesy of Covid-19 and waited four months to hold her baby for the very first time
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In October last year, then 28-year-old Serena Torres became a mother while in a coma after having contracted Coronavirus.
Source: UGC
While at the hospital, Torres suffered lung, heart, and kidney failure and was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for two months.
Torres was six months pregnant when test results confirmed she was Covid-19 positive.
"It was a really scary and emotional point because there were so many unknowns," she said.
Even after testing positive, Torres was confident her robust medical history was strong enough to help her withstand the virus without much hustle.
Things, however, took a downward spiral and she was soon being kept alive with the help of a ventilator.
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"Serena was certainly among the sickest of the sick," said Westchester Medical Center's Dr Dipak Chandy.
When her health deteriorated further, doctors decided to deliver her baby via cesarean section.
At the time of the delivery Torres was in a medically induced coma, but they managed to get out the baby, who has since been named Alessandra.
Alessandra weighed a mere four pounds and was put in the neonatal ICU for four weeks.
"Many nurses told me that there was one moment when I woke up from the sedation and I rocked my arm like I was trying to rock a baby, but I couldn't communicate. It was like I was asking, 'Where is my baby?" explained Torres.
Even after successfully giving birth, Torres was not allowed to hold her own baby for a whopping four months.
This is because she was not only too frail to hold anything heavy but was also not fully recovered from the other complications, among them blood clots that saw her toes amputated.
Furthermore, the risk of passing Covid-19 to the newborn was high, so she only interacted with her baby on video call.
"I will never forget that day in my life. I just started to do the ugly cry, when you're so happy that you don't even care," she recalled that day in February this year when she held Alessandra for the first time.
The first-time mother is back home with her husband and daughter and plans to have a mega celebration as she almost lost her life a few months ago.
Although she is still undergoing treatment and reeling from the aftereffects of the virus, she is thankful that she is alive to be a mother to Alessandra.
"I fought so hard to be a mom and to be here home with her," she expressed.
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Source: Briefly News
Maryn Blignaut (Human-Interest HOD) Maryn Blignaut is the Human Interest manager and feature writer. She holds a BA degree in Communication Science, which she obtained from the University of South Africa in 2016. She joined the Briefly - South African News team shortly after graduating and has over six years of experience in the journalism field. Maryn passed the AFP Digital Investigation Techniques course (Google News Initiative), as well as a set of trainings for journalists by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at: maryn.blignaut@briefly.co.za
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
