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Twins Delivered by Emergency C-Section as CPR Revives Mom
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg - The Sacramento Bee - Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Looking back on the terrifying morning when his wife almost died and their premature twins were cut from her body, Sam Fatu cannot stop the tears.
The massive pro wrestler, a man who once thumped around the ring as the "Samoan Savage," sat in a neonatal intensive care unit this week, cuddling his tiny son Marley in one arm. He wiped his eyes for a moment, and could not speak.
Beside him, his wife, Theresa Fuavai-Fatu, cradled Marley's 6-week-old twin sister, Myracle.
Miracle is the word that doctors have been using since the early November day when Fuavai- Fatu's heart stopped and an obstetrician performed an emergency Caesarean section in the woman's hospital bed, working so swiftly there was no time for sterilization or anesthesia.
It was a desperate measure, tried only because everyone in the room feared the mother was dying and the twins had minutes to live.
"I could not possibly imagine anyone losing a wife and children at the same time," said Dr. Armine Sarchisian, the young obstetrician who made the decision to get the babies out before they died, too.
"All I could think is, 'I have to save somebody.' "
Ultimately, doctors saved all three lives.
For three survivors to emerge relatively healthy from an episode like this is so rare that most obstetricians would never see it in a lifetime of practice, said Dr. Robert Resnik, a UC San Diego medical school professor emeritus who specializes in high-risk pregnancies.
"This obstetrician did just a miraculous job," he said.
The cardiac surgeon who treated Fuavai-Fatu, Dr. Stephen Rossiter, said that in a nearly 40-year career he's seen only a couple of other attempts to free babies from an apparently dying mother, someone hurt in a car crash or an accident.
Until now, "I've never seen a surviving mother or babies from it," he said.
The Sacramento family's harrowing experience began Nov. 10 when Theresa Fuavai-Fatu, 29 weeks pregnant, called her doctor, saying she felt sick and was having trouble breathing.
Sarchisian, the obstetrician on call that day, told her to come to Mercy General Hospital's labor and delivery area, even though her babies weren't due until late January. The doctor wanted to see Fuavai-Fatu because she was 40 and carrying twins, putting her at risk for several dangerous complications.
Once Fuavai-Fatu was settled in a labor room, her husband at her side and lab tests under way, things fell apart quickly.
"My blood pressure was sky high," Fuavai-Fatu said. "The last thing I remember was grabbing the nurse's hand and saying I can't breathe." She saw her husband start crying, his head bent over her.
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