Photo via Qianjiang Evening News

Some are calling it a miracle before Chinese New Year.

Xiao Ying (pseudonym), a 19-year-old mother who gave birth in a vegetative state last December has finally regained consciousness at a hospital in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, and she enjoyed her very first family reunion with her newborn baby with the help of a picture, Qianjiang Evening News reported.

Xiao Ying fell into in a vegetative state after a car accident in October 2018 that caused traumatic brain injury. She was over 20 weeks pregnant at the time. Doctors said it would be too dangerous for both mother and baby if an operation was conducted to deliver the baby, so Xiao Ying was left in a vegetative state while her baby grew inside her womb.

On December 12, 2018, Xiao Ying’s water broke and a cesarean section was conducted. Xiao Ying’s baby, named Xiao Jianqiang, or “Little Strong,” met the world as a 36-week-old healthy infant with no obvious signs of deformity.

As the newborn has left the hospital for her hometown in southwest China’s Guizhou province, Xiao Ying could not personally see her daughter, but through a photo on a cellphone, the mother and daughter held their very first family reunion for the upcoming Spring Festival.

According to Chen Yili, the deputy director of neurosurgery for Xiao Ying, the mother has basically passed the critical period and is expected to be able to breath on her own after the Spring Festival holiday.

Xiao Ying will then face a long rehabilitation period to regain motor control, Chen said, adding that the mother may have some problems with her left side of body and the injury may have a long-term impact on her intelligence.

“She’s still young. After formal and comprehensive rehabilitation, we hope she’ll be able to take care of herself again and return to the family. She can still be a good wife and a good mother,” Chen said.