Three-month-old Elayna Nigrelli didn't have the most conventional birth, she was born while her mother was technically dead. Luckily both mother and daughter are now alive and well, Fortbenderstar.com reported.
When mother Erica Nigrelli was only four weeks away from giving birth, she suddenly collapsed while teaching at Elkins High School, in Missouri City, Texas.
"Some students said, 'Your wife is hurt' and I went running into the classroom and she was laying on the floor," Nigrelli's husband and fellow teacher Nathan Nigrelli said. "She wasn't breathing and I just froze.
Three employees at the school rushed to help Nigrelli as she lay on the classroom floor. The women worked together to keep her alive while they waited for Emergency Medical Services to arrive.
"I cut off her shirt just as she took her last breath and I immediately started chest compressions," said June Tomlin, Athletic trainer and Fort Bend ISD CPR educator. "And I didn't stop."
School nurse Jennifer Longoria, who had worked in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was also on the scene, along with teacher Maxine Reeves. The women called 911, prepared an electronic defibrillator, and continuously checked Nigrelli's vital signs.
"We shocked her three times and on that last time we finally got a faint pulse just as the paramedics got there," Reeves said.
"EMS saw that we had a rhythm going and that it was working so they let us continue what we were doing. We didn't even have to talk to each other," Longoria stated.
When Nigrelli finally arrived at the hospital her situation was extremely critical. Doctor's decided to attempt to save the baby by performing an immediate emergency Cesarean section.
"The doctors told me that Erica delivered post-mortem because she did not have a heart beat when they took the baby out," Nathan said. "But I married a fighter and now I had a baby girl who was a fighter too."
In a miraculous recovery, Nigrelli's heart began beating again after the successful Cesarean section, CNN reported.
The doctor's told Erica that she had hypertropic cardiomyopathy, more commonly known as athlete's heart. The condition is genetic and can show up without any previous warning signs or symptoms, as it did for Nigrelli. The condition causes the heart muscles to thicken, which can make it difficult for the heart to pump blood out.
Nigrelli remained in a medically induced coma for the next five days, and her baby, Elayna, was in intensive care for two weeks.
Nigrelli is now back to normal and baby Elayna hasn't had any complications, but is still on oxygen and will undergo therapy soon.
"We feel great," Nathan Nigrelli told CNN. "We have a wonderful baby. My wife is back to 100%."
