My friend has an “alive” baby

I’m a midwife of almost 10 years and I’ve worked with a lot of babies who were “alive” when they were born. But the other day I worked with a friend of mine who just had her baby. She’s 26 and she had her first child. <br><br>When I got there, I asked her what the baby’s name would be and she told me her name was Alice. When the doctor started to do the routine check for newborns, he asked her if Alice had moved since she was born and she said no. He told her he would like to do a heart beat check and he was unable to find one, so he asked her if Alice had been doing any of those baby reflexes (like coughing or sneezing) yet. He still couldn’t find any heartbeat, so he asked her if Alice had been making any sounds or moving her arms or legs and she said no, and then he did the infant code check. He couldn’t find any heartbeat. So I got out my stethoscope and listened and couldn’t hear any heartbeat either. <br><br>I’ve worked a lot of cases with babies who have been stillbirths, so I thought this is what had happened. So me and the doctor came up with a plan for Alice to go to the Morgue at the hospital where she could be wrapped in a blanket and go in a casket and be buried privately. Alice’s dad works for a casket company and he could just take her to the cemetery and bury her. Alice’s mom was really upset, but she understood and the plan was to tell her tomorrow since she was already really tired. <br><br>When I went to get the bag for the morgue, Alice started moving and made a noise. I went back to check and her heartbeat was normal. I went back to tell Alice’s mom and she started crying. She told me that Alice had been moving around while she was holding her, but she thought she was just gas. She also thought Alice was crying, but it was just gas. So Alice’s mom asked me why Alice was “alive” and I told her I didn’t know. I went back to ask the doctor the same question and he didn’t know. So we both concluded that she must have had a near death experience or her heart had stopped beating for so long that it restarted again. <br><br>We went back to tell Alice’s mom and she started crying again, but this time happy tears. I’ve never worked a stillbirth case where the baby was alive the whole time.