Pregnant woman diagnosed with COVID-19 gives birth while in coma, wakes up weeks later
SAN DIEGO - A California woman who gave birth while in a coma, due to COVID-19, marked a very special Mother’s Day on Sunday at home with her newborn daughter.
Blanca Moreno was placed in ICU due to COVID-19. She gave birth while in a coma.
Blanca Moreno was admitted to the intensive care unit at UC San Diego Health in late March, after testing positive for COVID-19.
"She could barely breathe and needed to be intubated,” UC San Diego Health officials said. The mother was placed in a drug induced coma as part of the procedure.
Because of the serious, life-threatening condition she was in, doctors made the decision to deliver her baby by emergency cesarean section. A multi-disciplinary medical team was quickly assembled because of the complicated nature of the case.
"Before we went in to the main operating room, because of how sick she was, we did a huge pre-brief, you know, with the ICU team, the OR team, the NICU team,” UC San Diego Health clinical nurse Zerrin Hill told FOX 5 San Diego. "We all came together, 'cause this was such a big case, between mom and baby, just because of the unknown between the two of them, trying to figure out how they could safely get this baby out and get the mom safely recovered postpartum.”
The patient's respiratory and cardiac function were a main concern, given the risks involved with being pregnant and having COVID-19.
All of their efforts paid off. The team successfully delivered the baby, who at 32 weeks weighed just over four pounds. The newborn was tested for the coronavirus. Thankfully, the results came out negative. The baby's mom remained in a coma for almost a month.
When she finally emerged out of the coma, her first thought went to her baby. Doctors explained the steps they had taken to deliver her baby. Moreno was in disbelief.
"She woke up. She said, 'No. My baby's in here' and was pointing at her stomach," Hill explained, "and the doctor said, 'No. We delivered your baby. She's in the NICU. She's doing great.’”
Because she still could not see the baby who remained in the NICU, Moreno’s medical team did something special for the new mom to help her wrap her head around all that had happened. "So we took a photo in the NICU, blew it up to about an 8 by 11 size and then we put, you know, the date of birth, the time, you know, just the stats of the baby, put it in a little laminator and I took it down to the ICU and they put it in her room.”
Last week Moreno got to go home with baby Atziri, after spending more than a month in the hospital.
The mom and COVID-19 survivor expressed her deep gratitude to the medical team for taking care of her baby when she was not able to.
"I want to thank the entire medical team, nurses and doctors for the great work they have done in helping my Atziri - my baby- when she needed me the most and I couldn't be there for her," Moreno said in a video posted on UC San Diego Health's Facebook page. She also thanked the team, as well as scientists and researchers for all of their work in the fight against the coronavirus and said, "Thanks to all of you, I am a survivor of COVID."
(UC San Diego Health)
This story was reported from Oakland, Calif.