Pregnant wife saves husband's life, delivers baby days later

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) - A birth story out of St. Paul is almost too remarkable to believe. A pregnant wife saved her husband’s life with CPR, just days before giving birth to their healthy baby boy.

Little Lennon Goette doesn’t have a care in the world, despite his eventful entrance just days ago. 

“It could not have been more dramatic,” Ashley Goette said. 

“Nothing’s been subtle about this guy so far,” Andrew Goette said.

Baby Lennon has no idea that his father almost died days before his birth and that his mother is the hero.

Last week, Ashley, who was 39 weeks pregnant at the time, heard her husband gasping for air in his sleep. Ashley called 911 and the dispatcher walked her through CPR until the ambulance arrived.

“I don’t think Andrew would be here today if it wasn’t for the actions of Ashley,” said critical care physician Dr. Alex Teeters. “Absolutely the number one thing is she recognized that there was a problem, and called for help.”

Andrew, 28, was transported from the couple’s home in West St. Paul to United Hospital. He had gone into cardiac arrest and was placed in an induced coma to reduce the risk of brain damage. 

“I didn’t want to have to think for one second about having to do any of this without him," said Ashley. "I kept telling him the whole time he was asleep, or in his coma, that I was not going to have this baby until he woke up."

Andrew woke up the next day.

“Libby [the nurse] grabbed him and said ‘Andrew, do you know you’re having a baby?’ And he went mhm. And she was like do you want to be there to be a part of your baby’s life? And he shook his head yes,” Ashley said.

The day after that Ashley was induced. The following day, Lennon Andrew Goette was born at 6 pounds 14 ounces.

Andrew was moved over from the ICU so he could lay beside his wife.

“They brought Andrew down to labor and delivery, on his very own hospital bed and just parked it right next to mine. And he got to be there throughout all of labor and delivery,” Ashley said.

Ashley was moved to another room when Lennon was delivered via C-section. Andrew, however, was watching it all on FaceTime and was the first person to hold their son.

“I’m still watching on my phone as they’re coming through the door," said Andrew. "So that was pretty cool. And I was already standing there with my shirt off waiting for him, with all my electrodes still hanging off of me."

“I think we're both a little nervous to go home because it's going to be so much different than when we left, but no we're very anxious to get home. And to be able to cuddle, these beds aren't very big,” Ashley said. “He's coming home. And that's really the only thing that matters.”

Doctors believe Andrew’s cardiac arrest was caused by a condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome. 

They hope to release him from the hospital in the coming days so the Goettes can spend their first night together at home as a family. 

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