I'm a fun-loving, always-smiling, registered nurse in Colorado Springs, Colorado. My handsome husband Anthony and I were expecting our third baby after two previous perfect pregnancies. As a 29-year-old healthy mom, there was no concern or warning signs that my life was at risk.

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I was dilated to seven centimeters with a seemingly smooth labor process. That’s when my body began to experience a life-threatening condition. I coded in the delivery room and my nurses administered chest compressions for almost six minutes. 

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The staff rushed my bed to the operating room with the nurse still straddling me mid-compression. Part of the nursing team and a chaplain intercepted my husband to tell him the situation: they needed to do a post-mortem C-section. 

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I was gone.

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Dr. Leslie Moats, an ER doctor, responded to my “code blue” alert and realized he was the only doctor available to do the c-section. With no anesthesia, no antiseptic, Dr. Moats cut my body from hip to hip. What Dr. Moats saw caught his breath. A beautiful baby boy, lifeless.

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Dr. Moats stimulated him for a second, clamped the cord, and quickly handed him off to the NICU staff. My body was bleeding from everywhere, but Dr. Moats wouldn’t quit. Above the chaos of the room split a beautiful cry from a newborn followed by: “This baby looks perfect, Doctor!” Alive, healthy, and upset at the world.

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My OB came in and saw the reality: a mom of three laying covered in blood because of what appeared to be an amniotic fluid embolism. Within a matter of seconds, a miraculous moment gave me a pulse and blood pressure.

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Dr. Riley, a trauma surgeon that came to the OR, and the nursing staff worked to stabilize me while my husband made his way down to the OR. An x-ray to confirm closure showed the team they needed to open me up again, which is when they discovered my uterus was still severely bleeding. They performed an emergency hysterectomy.

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Over the next four days, I made a tremendous recovery and my baby boy, Haxton, healed. My story of both my son and I surviving an amniotic fluid embolism is rare: in most cases, at least one of us two, if not both, fail to survive. I along with my family, Dr. Moats and thousands of others believe the hand of God intervened in a destined-for-death situation. 

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For many families though, their experience ends in grief. With thousands of expectant mothers and newborns having complications during delivery, many women’s health medical teams across the U.S. are not well-resourced to navigate this risk. I share my story to raise awareness of the maternal mortality crisis families are facing every day in the U.S. There is a critical need for further education and procedures to prepare for this deadly experience.

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And that is why Before You Push was created.

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