Lorraine Stewart, who was in pain and unconscious after a Caesarean section, nursed her four-hour-old baby against her chest in her hospital bed. Her full and contented coat snuggled into her arms, closed her eyes and became quiet. Lorraine lay down and rested.

Shortly after, Harry Allison, a patient care technician, came into Lorraine’s room. It’s time for her to measure her vital signs. Alison prepared a blood pressure cuff and he asked Lorraine if she could sit in a chair for a while. Lorraine nodded “yes” and changed her body onto her bed.

The court was unmoved. The two women looked at him. He was still and his face was gray.

Lorraine stroked the baby’s head and rubbed its small shoulders. “Buddy, are you okay?”

Allison looked at his face. “No, he’s not okay.”

For Alison, a certified nursing assistant, it was a training moment. For Lorraine and her husband Will, the joyous occasion of the birth of their second child after years of effort quickly descended into surreal panic.

Alison was looking for hands-on experience to plan her next steps in the medical field. When a patient care technician position opened up in the mother-baby unit at Piedmont Athens Hospital in Athens, Georgia, she applied immediately and was hired.

She quickly settled into her role checking the vital signs of women who had just given birth, giving their babies their first baths, and removing IVs, catheters, and staples.

One day, four months after joining the company, Alison walked into room 3117, Lorraine’s room.

Seeing Kourt’s face and his limp, lifeless body, she sprang into action.

“My first instinct was to start CPR,” Allison said.

She took the coat from Lorraine and put it in the basket. Within seconds, she called her charge nurse.

“Something’s wrong,” Allison said. “I don’t think he’s breathing.”

Alison began CPR on the baby, using her two thumbs to press into the center of the baby’s chest.

Meanwhile, her boss runs down the hallway to Lorraine’s room. She grabbed her coat and flipped it over her forearm. She thrust into her chest and punched her back to dislodge anything that may have been stuck in her throat.

Then she kicked him out of the room. “Call the NICU,” she yelled to her colleague. Alison and Will followed.

The room became eerily quiet. Lorraine sat up and looked him wildly in the eyes. She was in pain and tired after her C-section. Now, instead of focusing on healing, she is strict and cautious.

Her parents were driving to meet their new grandson. However, it did not arrive even after 4 more hours.

Alone she began to tremble.

Then Alison came back into the room. She had left the care of her coat to more highly trained staff.

“Mom, how are you doing?” she said.

Lorraine’s face crumpled.

“Scoop,” Alison said, climbing into bed next to Lorraine and hugging her.

Both women cried.

“Tell me about anything other than what just happened,” Lorraine told her.

Alison talked about her fiancé, her husband. Lorraine told us a story about her family.

Meanwhile, a team of nurses and doctors continued CPR on the court. Finally he took his last breath. Tests of his brain activity suggested he was having seizures, but the results were inconclusive. Doctors put him on a low dose of anti-seizure medication anyway. He was settled in the neonatal intensive care unit for further monitoring.

When Allison went home after her shift, she couldn’t stop thinking about the Stewarts. She called her coworkers to check on her throughout the night. For the next few weeks, he visited her every day while she was at work.

Lorraine and Will will be back in court in four days. He wasn’t strong enough to eat on his own. He required a feeding tube for months. He was sent home when he was one month old.

He is now a healthy and healthy 1-year-old. He started crawling later than most babies. Otherwise, he has reached all the milestones. He recently stopped taking his antiepileptic medication. His pediatrician attributed his excellent results to how quickly he received high-quality CPR.

“Harry didn’t hesitate,” Lorraine said. “She had the instinct to act quickly.”

Stewart and Alison frequently email, share photos and meet for meals.

“The fact that she came back and checked on me shows what an amazing person she is,” Lorraine said. “Every time I see her coat, I think of her.”

Lorraine and Court were there when Alison got married last fall. At the ceremony, Alison and her hospital friends doted on him.

Inspired by her experience with the Stewarts, Alison recently applied to the Midwifery and Nursing Program.

This year, Allison also received the hospital’s President’s Award. While accepting the award on stage, she received another surprise. The Stewarts showed up. She looked at the coat and burst into tears.

“You’re really thinking, ‘I don’t think I’ll need to use CPR,'” Allison said. “Then it happens. And instead of thinking about it, you just do it.”

Stories from the Heart chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers, and supporters.