She Was Struck By A Bomb, Then Went Into Labor, Doctors Had Mere Minutes To Save Her Baby

<div><p>From 2012 to 2016, Aleppo the largest city in Syria, suffered thousands of lives lost in a major military confrontation during the ongoing Syrian Civil War.</p><p>According to the <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/sy/" target="_blank">UN High Commissioner for Human Rights</a>, "crimes of historic proportions" were being committed in the city during the 2016 Syrian government offensive. Not only were hundreds of thousands of residents displaced by the fighting, an estimated 31,000 people were killed as a result. </p><p>Many of those casualties were civilians and children who had no where else to run when the fighting broke out. </p><p>One such casualty was a young woman named Mayissa, she had been seriously injured by a bomb and her unborn child was in distress.</p><p>In August 2016, a camera crew captures the incredible work the doctors of Aleppo were forced to do as bombs rained down around them. </p><div><figure><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Channel4News" target="_blank"><amp-img src="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/05/BEFORE--4--3.jpg" srcset="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/05/BEFORE--4--3_GH_content_550px.jpg 550w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/05/BEFORE--4--3_GH_content_650px.jpg 650w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/05/BEFORE--4--3_GH_content_750px.jpg 750w" sizes="89vw" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img></a><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Channel4News" target="_blank">Channel 4 News</a></cite></figcaption></figure></div><p><!-- [invalid-shortcode] --></p><p></p><p>In labor and on her way to the hospital, Mayissa had just suffered several serious injuries from an airstrike. Her arm and leg were broken and her body was covered in inch-long pieces of shrapnel.</p><p>As surgeons worked quickly to remove the shrapnel, others prepared to preform an emergency cesarean section.</p><p>She was still in shock, when doctors pulled a silent baby from Mayissa's gashed abdomen. Her husband looked on silently somber as they began to perform chest compressions on his lifeless son.</p><p>The film crew asks about the baby's name, but it is too soon, to say, the father is only thinking about his baby's first breath - will he take it?</p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/05/BEFORE--4--4.jpg" srcset="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/05/BEFORE--4--4_GH_content_550px.jpg 550w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/05/BEFORE--4--4_GH_content_650px.jpg 650w" sizes="89vw" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img></figure></div><p><strong>Watch the video on the next page. Doctors are finally able to revive the newborn...</strong></p><p><!-- [invalid-shortcode] --></p><h3>Alive!</h3><p>At first, it starts with a tiny pulse, a small movement of the umbilical cord lets doctors know that his hart has begun to beat again. Then, a quick spank inspires his first wail. </p><p>Everyone around him grins widely, this little cry is a sure sign of life. Doctors continue to agitate, pinch and spank the little one to stimulate a response. They give him some oxygen and he begins to breathe well on his own.</p><p>After 20 minutes of resuscitation, the baby has recovered. Mayissa has also survived her wounds and, in spite of the horrors around them, the family basks in a moment of hope.</p><div><div><div><amp-youtube height="9" width="16" layout="responsive" data-videoid="QHxVn84md5U"></amp-youtube></div></div></div><p><!-- [invalid-shortcode] --></p><p>[h/t <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/22/middleeast/aleppo-syria-birth-amanpour/" target="_blank">CNN </a>/ <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Channel4News" target="_blank">Channel4News</a>]</p><p></p></div>