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Healthy baby boy born to California woman in coma

Melissa Carleton gave birth by cesarean section.

By Evan Bleier
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SAN FRANCISCO, May 23 (UPI) -- A California woman gave birth to a healthy five-pound, nine-ounce baby boy on Thursday, even though she wasn't able to welcome him into the world herself.

Melissa Carleton has been in a coma for than 10 weeks, but she was still able to bring West Nathaniel Lande into the world via cesarean section at a San Francisco hospital.

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The 39-year-old has been in a semi-comatose state since she underwent emergency surgery to remove a large brain tumor.

"I was just so happy to have a healthy baby, healthy son," Brian Lande, Carleton's husband, told NBC News. "It's a feeling of immense relief joy and immense sorrow for Melissa not able to be awake for it."

Now that the baby has been delivered, Carleton will be transferred to a brain rehab clinic and begin undergoing intense therapy in an effort to wake her. Carleton's future is uncertain, but Lande is hopeful that she will recover and be able to meet West.

"I want her to know she did an amazing job, and she loved the baby hard for two months," he said. "I'm so grateful to her and I miss her. We can now work on getting her to wake up and get back us and be a mom."

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