After a routine C-section, 40-year-old Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro gave birth to a baby girl. But, right when she was moved to recover, she fell under cardiac arrest. Dr. Jordan Knurr, an anesthesiologist in Boca Raton Regional Hospital, immediately put Graupera-Cassimiro on a machine to help her breathe as doctors and nurses frantically were giving her advanced cardiac support. For two hours, the mother of two experienced life-threatening heartbeats, and even had a pulseless rhythm.

Doctors were constantly giving her CPR compressions for 45 minutes, but after two hours, they felt that there was no hope. Doctors brought the family in to say their goodbyes, and then on their hands and knees, they prayed in the waiting area with nurses. Dr. Knurr was about to turn off the machine and call the time of death, when one of the nurses stopped Knurr because Ruby’s heart was beating on its own.

Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro experienced amniotic fluid embolism. With this, amniotic fluid leaks into the uterus and causes an air blockage in the heart that prevents blood flow. According to Dr. Knurr, these embolisms are rare, and they usually are life-threatening and cause brain damage. However, Ruby was in perfect health and left the hospital just four days after.