Michelle Wood remembers the moment the routine labor and delivery of her baby boy became anything but routine.
“As my husband likes to say, he stepped out of the room for 45 seconds, and when he returned, my bed was surrounded.”
Michelle’s blood pressure and her baby’s heart rate had suddenly plummeted, a scenario that received immediate attention thanks to the clinical excellence exemplified by the amazing nurses and physicians at Hoag.
In addition, a sophisticated maternal fetal monitoring system called PeriGen Vigilance alerted staff to the complication. Acquired through a philanthropic investment from Hoag Innovators, a group of philanthropists advancing health care innovation, the PeriGen system tracks and shares all changes in maternal vital signs, contractions and fetal heart rate in one centralized view, allowing clinicians to identify and assess potential complications sooner. The system also utilizes artificial intelligence to alert clinicians of possible risks and their level of urgency.
“So sorry Michelle, we need to get the baby out right now,” Hoag OB/GYN Dr. Vinita Speir said.
Michelle was taken to the operating room where her baby was delivered in less than 7 minutes via cesarean.
“My husband wasn’t in the room yet, and I kept saying to one of the nurses, ‘Where is he? I need him. I can’t do this.’ And she said, ‘Don’t worry, he’s going to be here in a minute, but I’m here for you right now.’ I was so grateful to her for that. Just to have someone there to support me and comfort me in that way was so important.”
Immediately following the delivery, Michelle’s son was taken to the NICU for intubation and additional monitoring but was doing well. While completing surgery, however, the physicians realized Michelle’s blood wasn’t clotting normally and quickly sent off a series of blood tests.
Dr. Speir suspected she had experienced an amniotic fluid embolism (AFE), a rare and life-threatening obstetric complication in which amniotic fluid enters the bloodstream, placing the lives of both mother and baby at significant risk.
Innovations in blood testing available at Hoag helped physicians determine which blood products Michelle needed to fully recover from AFE and avoid any further complications.
“I received 10 bags of coagulates, and after that, my numbers started going up,” she said.
Within hours, Michelle was stable and taken to the NICU to meet her son, who she named Ethan.
Now 9 months old, he and his mom are healthy and thriving. Reflecting on her experience, Michelle shared she is thankful for the immediate action taken by her care team when things didn’t go as planned.
“It’s amazing to know there is technology and expertise that can make such a big difference. Without it, my son and I may not be here,” she said.
“I’m so grateful I was at Hoag because the care was truly the best I could have received.”
