14 DAY TRIAL // A pregnant California woman was looking forward to becoming a first-time mom at the age of 39, but unfortunately she wasn’t able to welcome the baby into the world herself because she was in a coma at the time of the delivery.
Melissa Carleton, from Fresno, has struggled for more than two months to regain full consciousness after she slipped into a coma in early March, but she was still able to give birth to West Nathaniel Lande at a San Francisco hospital on Thursday.
“I know that being able to love this little guy is going to be a wonderful experience, but I also know it's going to be very hard for me to know that I am going to be the one to hold this baby first,” said Brian Lande, Carleton's husband, before the baby's birth.
The healthy 5lb 9oz (2.5 kg) baby boy was born via cesarean section although the new mother was still in a semi-comatose state.
As if giving birth to a baby while in a coma wasn’t impressive enough, the woman has even started breastfeeding her newborn son, with a little help from the doctors, and it's possible she's aware of what's happening.
According to ABC News, Mrs. Carleton became comatose 10 weeks ago after suffering a seizure caused by a benign brain tumor. Although the woman wanted to wait until the baby was born to have the tumor removed, doctors were forced to operate on her immediately after the seizure.
The surgery went fine, medics said, but she hasn't been fully awake since. Occasionally, Melissa would open her eyes, move her hand, but other than that she remained unresponsive. Her family says that on Thursday morning, just before surgery to give birth to her son, she was the most awake they have seen her in weeks. She reportedly opened her eyes, squeezed her family members’ hands and even gave Brian a kiss.
For husband Brian, though, it's a very difficult situation with mixed emotions now that the baby is here, as he has to take care of his son alone while hoping for his wife to wake up.
“I was just so happy to have a healthy baby, healthy son,” the proud father said. “It's a feeling of immense relief joy and immense sorrow for Melissa not able to be awake for it.”
In the following days, Melissa will be moved to a rehabilitation facility, where doctors will continue efforts to bring her out of the comatose state.