Texas woman dies, gives birth, then comes back to life

Texas woman dies, gives birth, then comes back to life

Missouri City, Texas - Three-month-old Elayna Nigrelli has redefined the term miracle baby.

She was born while her mother was technically dead. Then, in what seemed to be another miracle, her mother came back to life.

In February, Ms Erica Nigrelli, 32, who was 36 weeks pregnant. was teaching at a high school near her home on the outskirts of Houston, Texas.

She walked into a co-worker's classroom, said she felt faint, and passed out.

Three teachers immediately grabbed a defibrillator and also began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Ms Nigrelli's husband Nathan, also a teacher, was just two doors down and rushed into the room.

"Erica was lying on the floor, she was foaming and making gurgling sounds and just staring up," he told CNN affiliate KPRC.

By the time paramedics rushed her to hospital, her heart had stopped beating and doctors could not find a pulse.

The baby was delivered by emergency caesarean section. Technically, it was a post-mortem delivery because Ms Nigrelli's heart was not beating CNN said.

But then something remarkable happened. The doctors turned their attention to Ms Nigrelli, and soon her heart started beating again.

Over the next five days, she remained in a medically induced coma, she told CNN, and doctors diagnosed a heart defect she did not know she had - hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

The condition causes the heart muscle to thicken, which can make it more difficult for blood to leave the heart, forcing it to work harder to pump blood.

Baby Elayna was in the intensive care unit for two weeks

Last Friday, the couple appeared with the baby on CNN's Early Start, with Elayna on her mum's lap. She now weighs 3.6kg and is healthy.

"We feel great," Mr Nigrelli said. "We have a wonderful baby. My wife is back to 100 per cent."

The baby has not shown any signs of trouble but is still on oxygen.

Ms Nigrelli believes God was protecting her. When she came to in the hospital, she remembers the doctors telling her: "You have your baby. She is in the hospital."

She saw Elayna three weeks after she was born. The parents joke that if Elayna ever gets out of line, all her parents will have to do is remind their daughter what they went through to bring her into the world.

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