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American Morning
Talk With Woman Who Gave Birth in Coma
Aired June 12, 2003 - 08:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Amanda Thomas felt under the weather during her son's second birthday party back in February. She was six months pregnant at the time and thought it was just the flu. Within days, she was hospitalized, clinging to life. But even though Amanda was in a coma, she delivered a baby, a baby that was one pound, 10 ounces, a little boy. The baby was born 15 weeks early.
Guess what? Mom and baby went home from the hospital on Tuesday and this morning we are joined from Palmdale, California by Amanda and George Thomas, and baby Charlie.
Thomas family, good morning.
Thanks for being with us on this happy occasion.
AMANDA THOMAS, GAVE BIRTH IN COMA: Good morning.
GEORGE THOMAS, CHARLIE'S FATHER: Good morning.
Thanks for having us.
KAGAN: Let's get to the good stuff. Let's see baby Charlie and tell us how big and beautiful and how well he's doing right now.
AMANDA THOMAS: He's doing very well. He's not six pounds.
KAGAN: He's practically a turkey for Thanksgiving. He's doing great. Look at those cheeks. Completely bored by this entire affair. Amanda, take us back to last February. As I think I said, it was Valentine's Day. It was your older son's birthday. Not feeling great, but you didn't think it was that big of a deal, right?
AMANDA THOMAS: Right. I just thought I was under the flu or had the flu. I was a little tired and had a small fever. There was no coughing, just short of breath and I just thought I was coming down with the flu.
Then next night I was, went to the emergency room and checked myself in then.
KAGAN: And things went south pretty quickly after there.
George, why don't you pick up the pick, the story, from there?
GEORGE THOMAS: Oh, absolutely. It was no more than two days when the doctors had to put her under. They had told me how bad she was really getting and she wasn't getting any better. You know, they really didn't know if she was going to get better at all. So...
KAGAN: So at a certain point did they come to you and say we have to make a choice here, do you try to save your baby's life or your wife's life?
GEORGE THOMAS: Oh, absolutely. I'd say 10 days into this whole situation they presented me with that situation. They said hey, we want to do what we can to save your baby's life and your wife, so we feel the best thing is to more than likely give her a cesarean and just do it, see what we can do for the baby, you know, after that. But...
KAGAN: But as I understand it, even before that, Charlie didn't wait for the caesarean. He kind of popped out on his own at less than two pounds.
GEORGE THOMAS: Oh, yes, absolutely. He beat the surgeon by about two hours.
KAGAN: Came out.
GEORGE THOMAS: Yes.
KAGAN: We can see pictures right now on our monitor of -- well, there's Charlie today. But what we just saw when he was in the ICU, the NICU. George, explain to me just how small your son was when he was born.
GEORGE THOMAS: Oh, when he was born he was a little guy, one pound 10 ounces. I could literally fit him in the palm of my hand. He was just really that tiny, just real skin and bones, just almost nothing there.
KAGAN: And you had to go back and forth from hospital to hospital because your wife and your child weren't even in the same hospital.
GEORGE THOMAS: Oh, absolutely.
KAGAN: That must have been incredible.
GEORGE THOMAS: Oh, yes. It was, the hospitals were 20 miles apart and the reason he was taken to a different hospital was they had a special neonatal unit which could care for preemie babies. He was before the 26th week mark so he really had to go to that special neonatal unit and they took really good care of him. You know, I owe them a lot.
KAGAN: Obviously.
Now, Amanda, let's bring you back in here. When you came out of this coma so many weeks later, did you, were you aware of what had taken place? Did you still think you were pregnant? Did you have any idea what was going on?
AMANDA THOMAS: I did feel like I was still pregnant. At the time I couldn't talk because I had the tracheotomy in. But they informed me that, you know, I had been there for five weeks and that I did have the baby and the baby was doing good.
KAGAN: And as we mentioned...
AMANDA THOMAS: So that's, I guess...
KAGAN: ... earlier, everyone got to go home on Tuesday. And am I right here, Tuesday was actually your true due date, had the pregnancy progressed naturally, Amanda?
AMANDA THOMAS: Yes. . That's correct.
KAGAN: Well, congratulations on that. It looks like you're doing fantastic. Charlie looks like he's just ready to burst out of there. He's had enough of us. We will wish you well to the Thomas family, Amanda and George, and little George, too. We saw a shot of him, too, the big brother in all of this.
AMANDA THOMAS: OK.
KAGAN: He, of course, has a very important role.
Congratulations and thanks for sharing your story.
AMANDA THOMAS: Thank you so much.
GEORGE THOMAS: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 12, 2003 - 08:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Amanda Thomas felt under the weather during her son's second birthday party back in February. She was six months pregnant at the time and thought it was just the flu. Within days, she was hospitalized, clinging to life. But even though Amanda was in a coma, she delivered a baby, a baby that was one pound, 10 ounces, a little boy. The baby was born 15 weeks early.
Guess what? Mom and baby went home from the hospital on Tuesday and this morning we are joined from Palmdale, California by Amanda and George Thomas, and baby Charlie.
Thomas family, good morning.
Thanks for being with us on this happy occasion.
AMANDA THOMAS, GAVE BIRTH IN COMA: Good morning.
GEORGE THOMAS, CHARLIE'S FATHER: Good morning.
Thanks for having us.
KAGAN: Let's get to the good stuff. Let's see baby Charlie and tell us how big and beautiful and how well he's doing right now.
AMANDA THOMAS: He's doing very well. He's not six pounds.
KAGAN: He's practically a turkey for Thanksgiving. He's doing great. Look at those cheeks. Completely bored by this entire affair. Amanda, take us back to last February. As I think I said, it was Valentine's Day. It was your older son's birthday. Not feeling great, but you didn't think it was that big of a deal, right?
AMANDA THOMAS: Right. I just thought I was under the flu or had the flu. I was a little tired and had a small fever. There was no coughing, just short of breath and I just thought I was coming down with the flu.
Then next night I was, went to the emergency room and checked myself in then.
KAGAN: And things went south pretty quickly after there.
George, why don't you pick up the pick, the story, from there?
GEORGE THOMAS: Oh, absolutely. It was no more than two days when the doctors had to put her under. They had told me how bad she was really getting and she wasn't getting any better. You know, they really didn't know if she was going to get better at all. So...
KAGAN: So at a certain point did they come to you and say we have to make a choice here, do you try to save your baby's life or your wife's life?
GEORGE THOMAS: Oh, absolutely. I'd say 10 days into this whole situation they presented me with that situation. They said hey, we want to do what we can to save your baby's life and your wife, so we feel the best thing is to more than likely give her a cesarean and just do it, see what we can do for the baby, you know, after that. But...
KAGAN: But as I understand it, even before that, Charlie didn't wait for the caesarean. He kind of popped out on his own at less than two pounds.
GEORGE THOMAS: Oh, yes, absolutely. He beat the surgeon by about two hours.
KAGAN: Came out.
GEORGE THOMAS: Yes.
KAGAN: We can see pictures right now on our monitor of -- well, there's Charlie today. But what we just saw when he was in the ICU, the NICU. George, explain to me just how small your son was when he was born.
GEORGE THOMAS: Oh, when he was born he was a little guy, one pound 10 ounces. I could literally fit him in the palm of my hand. He was just really that tiny, just real skin and bones, just almost nothing there.
KAGAN: And you had to go back and forth from hospital to hospital because your wife and your child weren't even in the same hospital.
GEORGE THOMAS: Oh, absolutely.
KAGAN: That must have been incredible.
GEORGE THOMAS: Oh, yes. It was, the hospitals were 20 miles apart and the reason he was taken to a different hospital was they had a special neonatal unit which could care for preemie babies. He was before the 26th week mark so he really had to go to that special neonatal unit and they took really good care of him. You know, I owe them a lot.
KAGAN: Obviously.
Now, Amanda, let's bring you back in here. When you came out of this coma so many weeks later, did you, were you aware of what had taken place? Did you still think you were pregnant? Did you have any idea what was going on?
AMANDA THOMAS: I did feel like I was still pregnant. At the time I couldn't talk because I had the tracheotomy in. But they informed me that, you know, I had been there for five weeks and that I did have the baby and the baby was doing good.
KAGAN: And as we mentioned...
AMANDA THOMAS: So that's, I guess...
KAGAN: ... earlier, everyone got to go home on Tuesday. And am I right here, Tuesday was actually your true due date, had the pregnancy progressed naturally, Amanda?
AMANDA THOMAS: Yes. . That's correct.
KAGAN: Well, congratulations on that. It looks like you're doing fantastic. Charlie looks like he's just ready to burst out of there. He's had enough of us. We will wish you well to the Thomas family, Amanda and George, and little George, too. We saw a shot of him, too, the big brother in all of this.
AMANDA THOMAS: OK.
KAGAN: He, of course, has a very important role.
Congratulations and thanks for sharing your story.
AMANDA THOMAS: Thank you so much.
GEORGE THOMAS: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
