Putting the Life of Her Unborn Baby First, Mother Dies After Giving Birth

In a selfless act, a mother from Aurora, Colo., made a decision during childbirth that put the life of her unborn baby son before her own. That decision ultimately ended her life while saving her seven-pound, four-ounce “miracle.”

“How do I explain to him that his mom is gone giving birth to him?” the woman’s husband, Wes Bugal, asked in an interview with NBC 9 News in Aurora. “I think about that all the time. How do I explain when he asks where’s Mommy?”

Karisa Bugal died Nov. 4, hours after giving birth the day before to the couple’s second child, a son named Declan. She had developed a rare complication called amniotic fluid embolism, which causes protective fluids around a baby to escape into the mother’s body, resulting in a breakdown of her organs.

After medical staff informed Bugal of the danger the embolism posed, she had two options: undergo surgery that could save her life but endanger Declan, whose heart rate had begun to dip, or get a Caesarean section to save her unborn baby’s life but put her own at risk.

Bugal chose the second option, a decision that a few hours later resulted in her death.

Friends set up a fundraiser page to help Wes Bugal raise the couple’s two children. In just one day, the site surpassed its goal of $20,000.