UPDATE: Christopher Rueben was delivered Sunday evening around 7:30 p.m. A spokesman for Stanton Healthcare says the baby weighed in at 1 lb. 1 oz. He is currently in the NICU and though his breathing is assisted, we are told he is able to breath well on his own.
"Please, keep Baby Christopher Rueben in your constant prayers. And please, pray for his precious family who is welcoming a life into the world while saying goodbye to another," Stanton Healthcare said in a statement.
A family member tells us his mother, Malinda Figueroa, had been in the hospital since she suffered a stroke and doctors said she had no brain activity.
Malinda was 23 weeks pregnant and the family says doctors were trying to keep Christopher in the womb to finish out the pregnancy.
Supporters, in some cases strangers, gathered at Saint Alphonsus on Sunday to pray for the family.
"They are wonderful people I don't know a lot of these people, but they all came together for little Christopher and my sister, and we are so thankful for that," said Malinda's aunt, Julia Chavez-Reynoso.
A spokesman for Saint Alphonsus said they cannot comment on specific patients. They say their mission as a Catholic healthcare provider includes a responsibility to human dignity that inspires an enduring concern for the sanctity of human life. This guides providers and staff to work closely with patients and families in providing quality, compassionate and ethically aligned care.
You can donate to the family's gofundme page here.
