Mom Gives Birth While In Coronavirus Coma, Wakes Up On Birthday

KEY POINTS

Adriana Torres was pregnant when doctors placed her in a coma due to the coronavirus
Doctors delivered her baby prematurely while she was still in a comatose state
Other mothers have had to deliver their babies while in a coma due to the coronavirus

A woman from Long Island, who was suffering from COVID-19, woke up from a medically-induced coma on her 41st birthday to find she had given birth just two days before.

Adriana Torres was just six months pregnant when she was taken to NYU Winthrop Hospital due to COVID-19 symptoms on April 5. According to Torres, she was "very sick," had a cough and could not breathe.

Doctors tried to stabilize her respiratory condition so they could prolong her pregnancy, but because her condition worsened, she had to be sedated and placed under a medically induced coma. On April 8, her doctors decided it was best to deliver the baby via C-section to "reduce the oxygen demands," according to Dr. Patricia Rekawek, the lead physician on the team that cared for Torres.

In recent similar cases, doctors also chose to deliver the babies prematurely because without the babies in the womb, their mothers would have more nutrients and better lung capacity.

After Torres's daughter, Leah, was born prematurely, doctors then slowly removed the mother from the medically-induced coma once her breathing improved. On April 10, which happens to be Torres's 41st birthday, she woke up.

"I was very confused," Torres said, according to the New York Post . "It's not easy when they tell you it's your birthday. I didn't know where I was. They showed me photos of my family, of my daughter. It was very sad because it's not easy to be alone in the hospital."

Torres had to wait for a week before she was able to hold her baby, who tested negative for the coronavirus, but they had to be separated again after she was sent home to quarantine and her baby had to remain in an incubator at the hospital.

Torres has also not been able to be with her other children, 3-year-old Allison and 22-year-old Michelle because she is still in quarantine.

Recently, other expectant mothers who were hospitalized for the coronavirus also had to give birth while under a medically-induced coma. Two of whom are Angela Primachenko from Washington and Yanira Soriano from Long Island. Both of them only found out they had already given birth after they woke up from a coma.