The room had been quiet only minutes before.
The steady rhythm of the fetal monitor filled the silence as Emma lay on the bed, one hand resting instinctively over her stomach.
Then the headache became unbearable.
“I don’t feel right,” she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. “Something’s wrong.”
The doctor looked up immediately.
“Emma, look at me. Can you hear me?”
She nodded, but her breathing had already changed—shorter, faster. Her fingers tightened around the sheet.
“Blood pressure?”
“Severely elevated.”
The doctor moved closer.
“Emma, stay with me.”
Her eyes suddenly lost focus.
Her entire body stiffened.
“Seizure!”
Within seconds, violent involuntary contractions ran through her body. Her jaw clenched, her arms drew inward and her legs became rigid.
“Protect her head. Clear the area.”
The team moved quickly around her, protecting her from injury as the seizure continued.
For Emma, there was no awareness of the voices surrounding her anymore.
Then, almost as suddenly as it had begun, the convulsions stopped.
Her body fell limp against the bed.
“Emma?”
No response.
“Emma, can you hear me?”
Nothing.
The doctor leaned over her.
Her chest was no longer rising normally.
“Check for a pulse.”
Fingers pressed against her neck.
One second.
Two.
Nothing.
“I can’t feel a pulse.”
The cardiac monitor confirmed what everyone already feared.
“Cardiac arrest. Start compressions. Now.”
Hands were positioned over the center of Emma’s chest.
The first compression forced her sternum downward.
Then another.
And another.
Her body moved passively beneath each compression, completely unresponsive to what was happening around her.
“Keep going. Don’t stop.”
Another member of the team prepared the resuscitation equipment while the doctor continued compressions.
Thirty compressions.
A brief pause.
Then immediately back onto her chest.
“Still no pulse.”
“Continue CPR.”
The rhythm of the room had completely changed.
Only minutes earlier, Emma had been awake, talking to them, one hand resting over her unborn child.
Now she lay unconscious beneath their hands while they fought to keep blood flowing through two bodies at once.
“Keep compressions going.”
There was still no response from Emma.
No purposeful movement.
No spontaneous breathing.
No pulse.
And the resuscitation had only just begun.
