Mother put into coma minutes after giving birth speaks on recovery
An Ohio woman gave birth and then, within the hour, was in a coma. Ashley Zinn was given just a 30% chance to live after being diagnosed with an amniotic fluid embolism.
Most new moms will tell you the first few weeks of motherhood are a blur. For Ashley, it's not even a memory.
“I remember telling the staff I'm dying,” Ashley said.
Just 15 minutes after delivering her son, Parker, Ashley began experiencing chest pain.
“The last thing I remember after that was being hauled away to CT,” Ashley said.
She was placed into a medically induced coma and diagnosed with amniotic fluid embolism, which is a rare delivery complication.
“Someone finally came back and told us that her vitals were continuously dropping on the ventilator and basically told us we need to put her on life-support or she's not going to make it tonight,” Ashley’s husband, Alex, said.
Doctors gave Ashley just a 30% chance to live.
“She was within minutes to hours of dying,” said Dr. Debbie Rohner, medical director of the cardiovascular ICU at Bethesda North Hospital. “Her lungs failed, her heart failed, her kidney failed, her liver failed, and her blood system failed.”
Alex was pulled between looking after their new son and staying bedside next to his wife in the ICU.
“It was definitely a really hard balance between being there for him and being there for Ashley,” Alex said. “I knew that time that she needed me more.”
Slowly, Ashley began to make progress. Her newborn was also by her side. She is expected to make a full recovery. Doctors say it's a miracle.
“I thank God every day for giving us another day together,” Alex said. “You don't really realize how short life is in a blink of an eye.”
Ashley remembers those first moments she awoke and was reunited with baby, Parker.
“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I just went through all this, and he looks just like my husband,’” Ashley said.
While the first month as a new family of three hasn't looked as expected, Ashley says it's even sweeter.
“I would go through it all over again for him,” Ashley said. “I wanted to be a mother ever since I was a little girl."
A GoFundMe has been started to support Ashley's recovery. To donate, click here.