A BABY HAS been born to a woman who was fatally injured in a driveby shooting in California.
27-year-old Vanessa Oviedo was 35 weeks pregnant when she was hit in the head after the car she was a passenger in was shot at by the occupants of another vehicle in Visalia, California, late last week, the Fresno Bee reports.
The driver of the car she was in, 23-year-old Andrew Aguirre who was himself shot in the leg, immediately drove to the nearby Kaweah Delta Medical Centre.
Police say they believe the attack was gang-related.
Upon arrival, it was found that Oviedo had no vital signs and was in labour. Doctors at the hospital said that once the decision to perform an emergency caesarean was made just 30 seconds were available to do so without harming the baby.
“This was heroic,” said emergency room doctor Greggory Shubert.
“If the staff had waited another 90 seconds the baby would have died,” he said.
Surgeon on duty Renee DeNolf told local Fresno tv station KFSN that it was a “tense couple of seconds” when attendants realised that heavily-pregnant Oviedo was dying.
“I got my scalpel out. My attendant said ‘cut’, so I cut,” she said.
The baby was not breathing when born, but seconds later a pulse was located.
The Visalia Police Department say that the baby is now in a healthy and stable condition.
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