Mother Sacrifices Her Life to Save Her Unborn Baby

A mother in Colorado made the ultimate sacrifice to save her unborn child. After Karisa Bugal went into labor early on Nov. 3, doctors discovered that she suffered from amniotic fluid embolism, a rare and fatal pregnancy condition that causes the organs to shut down. Doctors told the 34-year-old that she had two options: wait to deliver the baby naturally and potentially lose the child or undergo an emergency C-section and potentially die. Without hesitation, she chose the latter.

But that wasn't the last decision Bugal would make that day. As doctors prepped the mom for surgery, the baby's heart rate began to drop. Rather than waste time waiting for anesthesia, Bugal told doctors to deliver the baby then and there. Bugal was able to meet her son, Declan, before being wheeled off to the ICU. Unfortunately, that was the only time Bugal would see her baby boy, as she passed away later that day. Though family members and friends are grieving over the loss, they take comfort in the fact that Bugal will live on through her husband, Declan, and her daughter, Mallory.

"She came to the hospital to be a mom and she did what she was supposed to do," Bugal's sister, Maren Oates, told a local news station.