Coronavirus mum-in-a-coma gives birth to baby girl
A woman hooked up to life-saving machinery and in a medically induced coma owing to Covid-19 has given birth to a girl.
The baby named Amelka was delivered via caesarean section two weeks ago at the University Clinical Hospital in Wroclaw where the mother, who was unaware she had given birth, is now said to be recovering.
Identified only as Ewelina, she had been in hospital suffering from severe respiratory problems caused by coronavirus.
Head of the 2nd Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic at the hospital, Professor Mariusz Zimmer, said: "The baby is not yet fully developed enough to function without problems outside the mother's body.” (Illustration pic).
Professor Waldemar Gozdzik, head of the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care said: "The disease was very hard on her, and the tests showed dynamically progressive lung damage.
“The patient was not able to breathe independently, we had to connect her to a ventilator and put her into a pharmacological coma."
She was later connected to an extracorporeal blood oxygenation system (ECMO) after the ventilator made little difference.
Professor Waldemar Gozdzik, head of the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care said: “The patient was not able to breathe independently, we had to connect her to a ventilator and put her into a pharmacological coma.”
An ECMO is used in the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome or acute heart failure. This was the only way to save the mother while at the same time giving the baby a better chance of survival after birth, doctors said.
Given the mother’s precarious state of health the decision when to deliver the baby, doctors said, was a difficult one.
Head of the 2nd Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic at the hospital, Professor Mariusz Zimmer, said: "The baby is not yet fully developed enough to function without problems outside the mother's body.
The mother had to be put on to an ECMO which is used in the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome or acute heart failure.
“It was necessary to establish the optimal moment for the termination of the pregnancy while taking into account the extremely dangerous condition of the mother.”
He added that the patient was 27/28 weeks pregnant at the time.
During ECMO therapy, the mother underwent two further operations due to heavy bleeding.
Ultimately, the ECMO was safely disconnected after nine days, and in the following days the patient was disconnected from the ventilator.
