Intubated Mom Given Her Newborn on a Ventilator—Then Forced to Make a Heartbreaking Decision
Many expectant mothers spend their pregnancy choosing baby clothes and decorating nurseries. But for Katherine “Katt” Campbell, those joyful preparations were replaced by an unimaginable reality—having to decide whether to turn off her newborn baby’s ventilator just hours after he was born.
Campbell, 29, from Ontario, Canada, was thrilled when she learned in 2023 that she was pregnant again and would soon expand her family. For most of the pregnancy, everything appeared to be progressing normally. That changed dramatically on February 27, 2024.
At 35 weeks and four days pregnant, Campbell remembers the day vividly. After dropping off her two-year-old son at daycare, she went shopping for baby clothes and then returned home to relax.

But within hours, her condition suddenly deteriorated.
“I remember feeling uncomfortable, but it didn’t seem unusual for someone almost 36 weeks pregnant,” Campbell later explained. “Around 11 a.m. I texted my mom saying I wasn’t feeling well. I thought that if I still felt bad when my husband got home, we’d go to the hospital to get checked.”
The situation quickly escalated.
“My symptoms suddenly went from zero to one hundred,” she said. “Then came this overwhelming sense of impending doom.”
Campbell didn’t even have time to grab the hospital bags she had prepared. Instead, she got into her car and drove herself to the nearest hospital.
“The fear and pain were indescribable,” she recalled. “It felt like my stomach was being torn apart—because essentially, it was.”
By the time she reached the hospital, she was close to losing consciousness from severe blood loss.
Doctors discovered that she was already nearly four centimeters dilated, but nurses initially struggled to detect the baby’s heartbeat. When they finally located it, the reading was dangerously low—just 55 beats per minute.
The baby needed to be delivered immediately.
Campbell was rushed into the operating room for an emergency procedure.
“We called my husband at 2:21 p.m.,” she said. “Lincoln was born at 2:32 p.m., but doctors had to work on him for 28 minutes before they were able to get any vital signs.”
She remembers little from the moment before anesthesia took effect.
“I recall the antiseptic being poured on my stomach before they put me to sleep,” she said. “I truly thought I might die because I had lost so much blood. It felt like something straight out of a medical drama.”
Her son, Lincoln Zachary, was delivered by emergency cesarean section on February 27, 2024, weighing 6 pounds and 14 ounces.
Doctors later determined that Campbell had suffered a concealed placental abruption—a serious pregnancy complication in which the placenta suddenly detaches from the uterus. When this occurs, the baby’s supply of oxygen and nutrients can rapidly decrease.

Placental abruption occurs in about one percent of pregnancies, most commonly during the third trimester.
The condition can cause symptoms such as severe abdominal pain, uterine tenderness, contractions, back pain, and vaginal bleeding. In Campbell’s case, the abruption was concealed, meaning the bleeding remained inside the body.
Following the traumatic delivery, Campbell was intubated and received multiple blood transfusions and platelet treatments in the intensive care unit. Her newborn son was placed on a ventilator.
When Campbell’s husband arrived at the hospital, he was faced with a devastating scene—his wife in the ICU and his newborn son on life support. Understanding the gravity of the situation, he insisted that doctors wake Campbell before any decision was made about their baby’s life.
For that, Campbell says she will always be grateful.
Around 7 p.m., she regained consciousness and saw her husband, parents, sister, and her best friend Natasha—who had been chosen as Lincoln’s godmother—standing in her hospital room.
“My first thought was that something was terribly wrong,” Campbell said. “I was on a ventilator, which was terrifying. My husband told me that our baby might not survive, that my placenta had ruptured, and that I had lost a lot of blood.”
Unable to speak because she was intubated, Campbell had to communicate by writing on a piece of paper.
At 7:29 p.m., after learning the extent of her son’s condition, she made the agonizing decision to remove Lincoln’s ventilator.
He passed away in her arms at 8:52 p.m.
“Six hours and twenty minutes will never feel like enough time,” she said quietly. “But it was the only time we had with him.”
Campbell explained that she knew her son would not recover and could not bear the thought of him suffering.
“Making that decision while I was intubated myself was devastating,” she said. “All I wanted to do was scream, but I physically couldn’t.”
The loss changed her life forever.
Campbell says she has never been the same since that day. The emotional trauma severely affected her mental health, and she began therapy to help process the grief. After five months, she eventually returned to work in an attempt to rebuild a sense of normal life.
She has since begun sharing her story on social media under the username @katt.shay, documenting her journey through grief and healing. Through this, she has connected with other families who have experienced placental abruption, miscarriage, or stillbirth.
Not a day passes without her thinking about Lincoln and the heartbreaking decision she had to make.
Now, she hopes to honor her son’s memory by raising awareness about the condition.
“I don’t want to frighten people,” she said. “I just want others to know the warning signs.”
She wishes there had been some indication that something was wrong.
“Even the doctors said the placenta detached within seconds. It was catastrophic and completely hidden because the bleeding stayed inside my body,” she explained.
Her message to other expectant mothers is simple but urgent.
“If something ever feels off, get it checked immediately,” she said. “I wish I had known something was wrong sooner.”
Campbell believes her son’s brief life has changed the way she sees the world.
“Lincoln taught me never to take anything for granted,” she said. “Because life can change in an instant.