Mom Delivers Baby While Undergoing Open-Heart Surgery
Edita Tracey likes to describe her infant daughter as her miracle baby. The name seems appropriate due to the girl's delivery - she was delivered in just 30 seconds while Tracey was being treated for a deadly cardiac condition.
When Tracey was 36 weeks pregnant, she started to feel some pressure on her back. Initially she didn't think much of it as she was nearing her ninth month of pregnancy.
"I was close to nine-months pregnant. It's normal to feel tired and have some pain in the back," said Tracey, 35.
However, Tracey called for help as the pain felt different. The doctors who ran tests and scanned her chest found a potentially catastrophic condition called aortic dissection. The aorta artery, which runs directly from the heart, was rupturing due to high blood pressure.
Tracey was rushed to emergency surgery, where doctors performed a Cesarean section in just 30 seconds and safely delivered her daughter.
Doctors then performed a nine-hour open-heart surgery on Tracey to repair the tear. When she woke up, she had no idea of the ordeal she had just gone through.
"I was just happy that I was alive and our daughter was alive," she said. "I think that the baby saved my life."
Both mother and baby are now at home as Tracey gets used to caring for her 6-week-old daughter.