Nine Months Pregnant Woman Suffers Stroke, Undergoes Emergency Birth At Shaare Tzedek

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The Shaarei Tzedek Stroke Unit fought for hours for the life of a pregnant woman in her ninth month who had undergone a stroke.

The 38-year-old Jerusalem woman, a health workshop mentor by profession, was directing a workshop when she suddenly had difficulty getting words out of her mouth.The woman attempted to recover her composure and remember the words without success. One of the participants at the workshop recognized the tell-tale signs of a stroke, since her father had undergone a similar event. The woman called for an ambulance. A United Hatzalah ambulance arrived almost immediately and the crew noticed the symptoms of a stroke and called for an intensive care unit which whisked the woman to the trauma unit in Shaare Tzedek.

The woman related later that “the stroke unit team met me outside the hospital and brought me to the trauma room, where Dr. Yosef Shechter performed diagnostic evaluation. I could think but I couldn’t do arithmetical sums or remember names of numbers. I spoke in short sentences.

MRI and CT exams revealed a blood clot in the woman’s brain. The doctors stabilized her but realized that maintaining the baby was of premier importance. Dr. Reut Rotem explained that “in light of the acute neurological incident and the possibility of recurrence, we needed to keep blood pressure within a defined range. Since the woman had a previous C-section, a normal birth would have exposed her to dangers which we preferred to prevent.”

The doctors decided to do an emergency C-section, which was successfully performed by Dr. Hatib Fauz, head of the Ambulatory Gynecology Unit.

The woman still had difficulty after birth remembering numbers but she did remember the close attention of the stroke unit doctors. She was transferred back to the Neurology Department and placed in close medical surveillance. After her condition improved gradually she was able to be with her baby in the Neurology Department.

Dr. Roni Eichel, director of the Stroke Unit, explained that a stroke during pregnancy is very rare and requires treatment of the mother without endangering her child.

The new mother thanked Hashem for saving her child and watching over her. She also expressed gratitude to the staff at Shaare Tzedek who had treated her professionally and looked after her child until she recovered her strength.