Somebody said ‘she needs to be intubated’, and that was it

Alexandra Judd had just given birth to her twin girls when things started to fall apart.

Alexandra Judd had just given birth to her twin girls when things started to fall apart.

The 37-year-old Melbourne mum delivered via caesarean at maternity hospital Frances Perry House last month when her condition deteriorated.

“My last recollection is somebody saying ‘she needs to be intubated’, and that was it,” Alexandra told 9News.

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Her obstetrician, Professor Mark Umstad, told 9News Alexandra had become “acutely short of breath” and “deteriorated very quickly”.

She was transported to the Royal Melbourne Hospital’s intensive care unit, and her husband Tim was told to prepare for the worst.

“The real seriousness hit when the ICU called me and said ‘you need to come over here right now’,” Tim told 9News.

“She’s the sickest patient we have in the ICU right now.”

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Alexandra Judd's heart stopped after giving birth to her twin girls. Picture: 9News

"Without the extra support, Alex wouldn't have survived"

9News reports the mum wouldn’t have survived if not for an advanced form of life support reserved for the ICUs sickest patients.

Alexandra was put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a form of life support that keeps blood moving through the body when the heart or lungs aren’t working as normal.

“Her heart was not pumping, so we said ‘we need to use something else here’,” Dr James Anstey said.

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“Without this extra support, Alex wouldn’t have survived.”

Amazingly, Alexandra started rousing just two days later, and received the first of many visits from her newborns.

“It was amazing,” Alexandra told 9News. “They came together and I was able to hold them.”

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"I realised how lucky I was to see the girls"

Doctors later determined Alexandra had suffered a rare stress-induced cardiac condition called ‘broken heart syndrome’.

The heart muscles will become suddenly stunned or weakened, and most often occurs after severe emotional or physical stress.

Thankfully, Alexandra made a full recovery and was able to return home with her new twins after a month.

“Everyday I was starting to get a sense of how lucky I was that I was around to see the girls,” she said.

Originally published as Somebody said ‘she needs to be intubated’, and that was it