Analia Bouter, a mother from Argentina, fell to her knees from shock when she found her baby alive in a morgue almost 12 hours after the baby was born and then declared dead. The baby was named Luz Milagros, which is ‘Miracle Light,’ and was born three months premature. The hospital staff declared the baby stillborn on April 3 and is in critical condition but is said to be improving right now in the same hospital.
The news hit the media on Tuesday of this week when Rafael Sabatinelli, the deputy health minister for Chaco, said that five hospital staff members have been suspended pending an investigation of the incident. Doctors issued a death certificate for the baby only 20 minutes after she was born and the mother still has yet to receive a birth certificate for the baby. The doctors put the baby in a coffin and took her to the refrigeration room in the morgue. The mother and father had to wait 12 hours before they could go say their final goodbyes. When the parents went to say their final goodbyes, the baby trembled, and the mother knew that the baby was alive.
An employee in the morgue picked up the girl and determined that she was alive. The brother of Bouter then ran the baby to the neonatal intensive care unit, screaming for doctors. Bouter said that the child was so cold that ‘it was like carrying a bottle of ice.’ Bouter is still waiting for answers to a ton of questions regarding what happened. She was given general anesthesia during this birth, which confused her, since she gave birth to four other children normally. She also wants to know why she was not allowed to see her child before it was placed in a coffin. Bouter claims she had to insist multiple times on visiting the refrigeration room in the morgue. She brought a cellphone in order to take a photo for the funeral. The husband had trouble opening the lid of the coffin and stepped out of the way to let the mother look inside.
“I moved the coverings aside and saw the tiny hand, with all five fingers, and I touched her hand and then uncovered her face,” Bouter said. “That’s where I heard a tiny little cry. I told myself I was imagining it – it was my imagination. And then I stepped back and saw her waking up. It was as if she was saying `Mama, you came for me!’
“That was when I fell to my knees. My husband didn’t know what to do. We were just crying and I laughed and cried, cries and laughter. We must have seemed crazy.”
“I’m a believer. All of this was a miracle from God.”
