Woman Gives Birth And Has Emergency Surgery At The Same Time

A Philadelphia mother is on the mend after amazingly giving birth while in the midst of emergency surgery to save her life.

35-year-old Edita Tracey was at her hairdresser when she began to feel a pain in her back, MailOnline reports. 36 weeks pregnant, she at first called her husband, who agreed to fly home from his business trip immediately. When the pain spread to her chest, however, Tracey knew it was an emergency situation and called an ambulance. “The last thing I remember is emergency people coming, and that’s it,” Tracey said, adding “I don’t remember anything else.”

Tests at the hospital revealed the nature of the emergency: Tracey had developed a nearly foot-long tear in her aorta, the main blood vessel in her body, and was in serious danger. After being airlifted to another hospital, she was rushed into emergency surgery. Two surgical teams administered to the woman, according to New York Daily News. While one team focused on making sure Tracey safely gave birth, the other surgical team struggled to repair the life-threatening damage to her aorta. Within 30 seconds of going into surgery, Tracey had given birth to a 6lb, 12oz baby girl, named Arabella. Miraculously, despite the circumstances, the baby was born perfectly healthy.

Doctors then went to work in earnest on Tracey, who was in surgery for nearly nine hours as doctors fought to close the tear in her aorta. The surgical procedure involved draining all of the blood around Tracey’s heart before putting her on a heart and lung bypass machine. The emergency was so severe that doctors even lowered Tracey’s body temperature in an effort to protect her from brain damage while they worked to repair the damage.

While Tracey was still in surgery, her husband arrived at the hospital and was able to hold his daughter for the first time. Speaking about the intense emotion of the night, Tracey’s husband pointed out that while the birth should be a “joyous occasion,” worry for his wife’s health made for a night that was “up and down.”

Aortic aneurysms are severe medical emergencies that too often prove fatal. As The Inquisitr reported, a man suffering from marfan syndrome, which causes an enlarged and eventually ruptured aorta, made headlines several years ago when he worked with surgeons to develop technology that prevented his aorta from rupturing, saving his life.

Now at home, and expected to make a full recovery, Tracey says she is incredibly grateful to the doctors who performed the emergency surgery that saved her life, and helped her give birth to a healthy baby girl.

[Images via MailOnline and New York Daily News]