The Christmas day seven years ago will forever live in the mind of Mike Hermanstorfer: It was the day when he almost lost his wife and newborn son.
KKTV News 11 reports the Colorado Springs, Colorado family said they expected that their birth would be normal as they drove to the hospital on Christmas Eve. Tracy Hermanstorfer said she did not have any problems during her pregnancy, and she had smooth births with her older two children.
While in labor at the hospital, however, she went into cardiac arrest, according to the report. The family said doctors still are not entirely sure why.
Here’s more from KKTV:
“She was dead. She had no heartbeat, no breathing. She was as gray as her sweatsuit, no signs of life,” said Stephanie Martin, director of fetal medicine at Memorial Hospital.
After failed resuscitation attempts, doctors decided to do an emergency cesarean section. But when they took out baby Coltyn, he, too, had no heartbeat.
“The next thing I know, a nurse walks out and tells me that they’re going to bring Tracy out, and this is my chance to say goodbye, and a gurney rolls out covered up with a white sheet.”
Hermanstorfer said he cradled his lifeless son as the nurses continued to work on him.
“We get the absolute worst news ever possible … two members of the family gone.”
The next few minutes changed everything. Mike Hermanstorfer remembered how doctors detected that his wife’s heart began beating again as they started to wheel her away. Then their baby son, Coltyn, took his first breath in his father’s arms.
“Seven years later, they’re both still here and goofy as ever,” he said.
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Neither Tracy nor Coltyn suffered any lasting damage, which sometimes occurs in such cases; and both are healthy today, according to the report.
The Hermanstorfers describe Coltyn as their “miracle baby.” They recently shared their story because they said they want to bring hope to others who are struggling with tragic news.
“The only reason I do the interviews is because I want people out there that ever have second thoughts or ever have doubts about anything to realize that miracles do happen. Don’t ever give up,” Mike said.
