Mother's Miracle Inspires Those Around Her

An Oklahoma woman dealing with a tremendous tragedy suddenly found herself in a battle for her own life.

Tuesday, May 19th 2009, 10:49 pm

By: News 9


By Amy Lester, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma woman dealing with a tremendous tragedy suddenly found herself in a battle for her own life.

Richa is a positive, fun-love mother and wife.

"To her, everything has a silver lining," her friend Richelle said. "She is the most positive person I've ever met in my life."

Richa was seven months pregnant with her second child when she learned the baby's heart had stopped beating. Her husband Thomas remembers feeling shocked, upset and frustrated.

"After I kind of realized that there's nothing I can do about any of this, I told myself, ‘We need to do whatever we can do to get the baby out and move on.'"

The couple went to Stillwater Medical Center to induce. In this room, in this bed, Richa's life took a sudden turn.

"I could say it's probably the worst experience I've ever had in medicine," said Dr. Tom Karns of Stillwater Medical Center.

Richa's heart stopped beating. She had an amniotic fluid embolism, a rare condition that's deadly up to 80 percent of the time. The amniotic fluid and the baby's skin cells were poisoning her bloodstream.

"I heard her struggling to breathe and it was like a gargling sound and I looked over and I could see her face was starting to turn blue," Thomas said.

For more than an hour Richa was dead. Doctors worked feverishly to revive her.

Finally, Richa's heart started beating again.

Once stable, Richa was flown to Mercy where doctors delivered her daughter and Richa stayed in a medically induced coma for 10 days. When she woke up, she immediately asked about the baby.

"I think at that point, she had just thought we had had the baby and I don't think she has any memory that the baby's dead," Thomas said.

When Thomas explained, Richa went through that painful loss of her daughter Ellison, again. Today, she doesn't remember the hospital stay or even being pregnant.

"I think it's a blessing from God that I don't remember," Richa said.

The details are fuzzy, but, Richa realizes it's amazing, she survived.

Richa was able to recover fully and is continuing to inspire those around her with her positive attitude.

Richelle decided to give Richa something she can no longer give herself, offering to be a surrogate mother for Richa and Thomas' biological children. The couple is trying to have twins.

"I feel like it's an honor," Richelle said. "A huge honor on my part to be chosen to carry someone's child."

Richelle will go through in vitro fertilization. Richa and Thomas' embryos will be transferred to her, at the end of next month.

Richa said several friends offered to be a surrogate for her. She can't believe the amount of support she's received from the community in Stillwater.

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