Childbirth as Christmas Miracle

The Hermanstorfer family is celebrating a Christmas miracle after pregnant Tracy and her newborn son came back to life after 'dying' on the operating table.

Photo: Childbirth as Christmas Miracle

The 33-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest during labour and doctors warned husband Mike he may lose her as they prepared to deliver her baby by Caesarian section.
But when medics managed to deliver little Coltyn, he too had stopped breathing. Doctors managed to revive his limp body, and then something amazing happened.

With no warning, his wife inexplicably also came back from the dead.
'My legs went out from underneath me,' said her relieved husband.

'It's just an absolute miracle. I had everything in the world taken from me, and in an hour-and-a-half I had everything given to me.'

Dr Stephanie Martin, a maternal foetal medicine specialist at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, was one of those who rushed to help deliver baby Coltyn on Christmas Eve.
She has no explanation for why his mother's heart began to beat as suddenly as it had stopped moments after giving birth.

'She had no signs of life - no heartbeat, no blood pressure, she wasn't breathing. We did a thorough evaluation and can't find anything that explains why this happened,' she said.
'The baby was... it was basically limp, with a very slow heart rate.'
In the absence of any medical explanation Mr Hermanstorfer has credited 'the hand of God'.
'We are both believers ... but this right here, even a non-believer - you explain to me how this happened. There is no other explanation.'
The couple finally got to celebrate Christmas four days late with their son Kanyen, three, and Mrs Hermanstorfer's 11-year-old son Austin, from a previous marriage.

Daily Mail has contributed to the report.