A Texas mother experienced a “clinical death” lasting 45 minutes after giving birth to triplets via a scheduled C-section, following a severe medical incident that typically has a “80% to 85% fatality rate.”
Marisa Christie, 30, and her husband, Dylan, felt a mix of excitement and nerves when doctors revealed during her first ultrasound for their second pregnancy that they might be expecting triplets, she shared with TODAY.com.
“They were like, ‘We’re pretty sure it’s twins. There might be a third one hiding,’” she told the outlet. “I was in complete shock.”
On August 21, Christie, who is 33 weeks pregnant, went to Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center for her planned C-section.
Her babies were safely delivered by her maternal-fetal medicine physician, Dr. Amber Samuel, and were resting on her when the situation suddenly changed for the worse. Christie started having seizures.
Dr. Ricardo Mora, the anesthesiologist for the c-section, noticed that she appeared “essentially gray” and felt that “something terrible just occurred.”
Mora, recalling his experience as the anesthesiologist during a delivery with a mother who had similar symptoms 15 years prior, quickly recognized that Christie was facing an amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) — a rare yet frequently deadly birth complication.
“It’s pretty catastrophic. When it occurs, it’s about 80%, 85% fatal,” Mora told the outlet.
“I asked Dr. Samuel what she had done. She related to me that she had just started pulling the placenta out and that’s usually the time when this occurs — the separation of the placenta and uterus.”
Mora stated that he promptly initiated a code blue, signaling a critical condition for a patient, aware that they would require extensive assistance in this urgent scenario.
“She wasn’t breathing,” Mora explained. “We started CPR because she had no pulse.”
Christie was losing blood while CPR was being administered. The situation escalated as doctors continuously replaced her blood while Samuel worked to control the bleeding by closing her uterus.
Dr. Stephen Maniscalco, a cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon at the hospital, worked diligently to keep the mother alive as he prepared to place Christie on ECMO — a machine that supports the heart and lungs to aid in recovery.
Almost an hour after Christie’s heart ceased to beat, the ECMO was circulating blood through her body while she remained unresponsive.
“She essentially lost what we consider her whole blood volume,” Mora shared.
“We replaced her blood volume. So, for 45 minutes, she was clinically dead.”
Doctors stabilized her using ECMO, but she started bleeding again and had to be quickly taken to the operating room for emergency surgery. Even after trying different medications and devices to halt her uterine bleeding, nothing appeared to be effective.
“We tried to resuscitate her and prevent her from having a hysterectomy,” Samuel explained.
Ultimately, the only choice left for the doctors was to take out Christie’s uterus.
“In typical situations, many small blood vessels will naturally clot and halt bleeding by themselves,” Samuel explained.
Samuel explained that due to her amniotic fluid embolism, “if you seal that off, what happens is that (blood vessels) release a significant amount of blood into that area, leading to a re-opening.”
After a serious medical emergency, Christie stayed unconscious and on ECMO for a week as doctors kept a close watch, hoping their efforts would be enough to save her.
“You can do the best CPR in the world, but if you don’t get enough blood to the brain, essentially they are alive but with brain damage,” Mora told the outlet.
Doctors quickly observed that she fluttered her eyes and appeared to hear conversations around her —a sign of hope that the mother might recover.
Her condition improved significantly, allowing her to be taken off the breathing machine and ECMO.