Pregnant Fairfield mother survives aneurysm, baby born safely

A Fairfield mother says she and her baby are lucky to be alive after her aneurysm.

Mark Sudol

Jun 22, 2023, 9:00 AM

Updated 400 days ago

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A Fairfield mother says she and her baby are lucky to be alive after her aneurysm.
Katie Stewart, who was 19 weeks pregnant, says she was having a great time with her oldest son in November.
"I just completely blacked out. I passed out on the couch. When I woke up, I was blind, I was numb on half of my body. I couldn't talk. I was in a cold sweat," said Stewart.
Stewart was rushed to Saint Vincent's Medical Center. She immediately went into surgery for an aneurysm in her spleen that ruptured.
"So, they ended up putting in a coil to stop the bleeding," says Stewart.
"In order to remove the aneurysm, we remove this part of the blood vessel as well as the tail of the pancreas and the spleen which it supplies," says Dr. Charles Cha, a liver and pancreas surgeon with Harford HealthCare St. Vincent's Medical Center .
Cha performed the surgery.
"This is the most common type of aneurysm to rupture during pregnancy. As all tissue gets softer and expands during pregnancy, these aneurysms grow quite large," says Cha.
Stewart says she was very lucky, and so was her baby.
"The mortality rate unfortunately when it comes to splenic aneurysms during pregnancy is like 95%. So the fact that I lived through the bleed with the aneurysm is nothing short of a miracle because neither of us should be here," says Stewart.
On March 15, Peter David was born.
"He was a little over 19 inches long, 6 pounds 15 ounces. So, he was perfect," said Stewart.
Three months later, Peter's older brother, who was 4 when his mother was rushed to the hospital, is enjoying his new buddy.
"He loves being a big brother, and he's so sweet with him and he's so gentle with him. It's so sweet to see the two of them together," says Stewart.


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