Woman In Coma Gives Birth To Baby Boy

A Santa Cruz, California woman who has been in a coma for over two months gave birth to a baby boy on Thursday, NBC Bay Area reported.

Baby West Nathaniel Lande is healthy after he was born by cesarean section at 10: 56 a.m. His mother, 39-year-old Melissa Carleton, gave birth while in a semi-comatose state.

"I was just so happy to have a healthy baby, healthy son," Carleton's husband, Brian Lande, told the station. "It's a feeling of immense relief joy and immense sorrow for Melissa not able to be awake for it."

Carleton had a seizure and fell into a coma in March after having surgery to remove a noncancerous brain tumor, KTVU reported. The last few weeks have been filled with uncertainty of whether or not the mother and child would survive.

"Ten weeks of heartbreak, pain and anxiety not knowing if we would get to keep either of our family members," Lande told NBC Bay Area.

Doctors were able to deliver the baby, born at 5 pounds 9 ounces, but the prognosis of the mother remains uncertain. Hospital staff helped Carleton breastfeed baby West.

"He's got his mom's nose and his mom's ears and he's opening his eyes and looking around already," Lande told KTVU.

The injury to Carleton's brain is in an area that controls alertness, which means she could know what is happening around her. She was able to take her husband's hand and place it on top of her stomach before the C-section.

Carleton is also able to open her eyes, but she is still in a coma, the family told CBS San Francisco.

Lande set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for the medical treatment his wife needs.

"I want her to know she did an amazing job, and she loved the baby hard for two months," Lande told NBC Bay Area. "I'm so grateful to her and I miss her. We can now work on getting her to wake up and get back us and be a mom."