Erica Nigrelli, a Houston area resident and her unborn daughter Elayna were saved by her co-workers and the brilliant doctors who were able to deliver the baby in about 20 seconds via emergency C-section!
One morning, Erica, a High School teacher began feeling ill at work. She was 36 weeks pregnant and assumed that her symptoms were typical, but in an instant, Erica collapsed. Her husband Nathan, who also teaches at the school, was in a nearby classroom and heard the commotion. He arrived to find his wife on the floor, not breathing and with no pulse. He quickly called 911, and the school’s two nurses and a coach trained in first aid jumped in to help. The coach began cardio-pulmonary resuscitation while the nurses administered an automatic external defibrillator, or AED, until the ambulance arrived.
At Methodist Hospital, Emergency Department physician Dr. Shawn Baichoo was going about routine duties when he heard a quick mention on the scanner radio about “CPR” and “eight months.” The report said the patient was headed to MSLH. “At the time, I didn’t know if the emergency medical technician was referring to an eight-month-old baby or a woman who was eight months pregnant,” Dr. Baichoo says. “But I knew either way it was a very serious situation.”
Dr. Baichoo and his staff prepared for Erica’s arrival, which was imminent. “We pulled together the nurses that needed to be involved and we paged for assistance from any physicians who were in the hospital at that moment,” he said. “Within minutes we had a full team, with obstetrics, labor and delivery, neonatology, radiology and anesthesia all represented.” Dr. Heaps, was in his office across from the hospital that morning, seeing a patient, when he received an emergency call from the Emergency Department informing him that a pregnant woman in cardiac arrest was en route and his services were needed.
“I apologized to my patient and literally sprinted across the parking lot to the ER,” says Dr. Heaps. We were ready to go,” Dr. Heaps says. “It only took about 20 seconds to deliver the baby.”
Once Elayna was born, Dr. Baichoo and Dr. Bracken Kolle – an anesthesiologist who came down from the operating rooms to assist – continued their efforts to revive Erica. In addition to continuing chest compressions, Erica was administered epinephrine, a drug which helps regulate heart rate, along with other medications. Dr. Kolle also replaced a temporary airway installed by the EMS crew with an endotracheal tube to allow Erica to be attached to a ventilator. Within a few minutes, Erica’s heart began pumping again.
“It was God’s plan,” says Dr. Baichoo. Miracles do happen and Methodist Hospital helped make this miracle possible.
