Cuong Chau became a father on the worst day of his life.
Three hours after his pregnant wife, Stacy, was critically injured Saturday morning in a one-car crash on South Lake Shore Drive, she gave birth by Caesarean section to a healthy boy.
But the North Side woman, who never regained consciousness after the crash, died a few hours later in Cook County Hospital. She had been 7 1/2 months pregnant.
In the same building where Cuong Chau gained a son, he lost a wife.
“He’s still in shock, just like any person losing a loved one,” said his brother, Shane.
Stacy Chau, 25, was driving home from her job in Gary when she lost control of her Nissan Altima and crashed into a bridge support of the pedestrian overpass at 35th Street about 5:15 a.m., police said. Investigators said she apparently fell asleep.
Her family said she was returning from her night shift at Trump Casino, where she worked as a card dealer. Usually, she drove to and from work with one of her sisters, Lisa, who also is a card dealer at the casino. But on Friday, Lisa went on vacation to Florida, and Stacy drove alone, relatives said.
Chau lived with her husband and his parents and brother in the 6400 block of North Hermitage Avenue. She and her husband were ecstatic about the pending birth of their first child, said her brother-in-law.
“We were all looking forward to it,” said Shane Chau.
The couple had decided on the name Brandon if their first child was a boy. Saturday afternoon, that was the name Cuong Chau, 30, selected for his son.
The infant, born at 8:10 a.m., weighed 4 pounds 8 ounces. The baby remained in the hospital’s neo-natal intensive care unit Saturday but was breathing on his own, said a hospital spokesman.
Doctors do not foresee any difficulties with Brandon’s health, the spokesman said.
Cuong Chau already had left for his job as a letter carrier Saturday morning when his brother reached him on his cellular phone and told him his wife had been injured and hospitalized. When the brothers reached the hospital, officials told them that Stacy Chau was in very critical condition.
“They were pretty much saying that it was going to be very, very tough,” said Shane Chau. “They said she’d suffered extensive brain damage.”
Doctors then asked Cuong Chau for permission to perform a Caesarean section. “He was in shock and tears and pacing back and forth, but he gave permission,” Shane Chau said.
Cuong Chau was able to see his wife before she gave birth, but only from the neck up, his brother said. She was pronounced dead about noon.
The couple met nearly six years ago while he was visiting a friend at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, where Stacy was a student. They were married in 1996.
On Saturday night, Cuong Chau was being consoled by a friend. Then, his brother said, he left to look at the accident site–and to the hospital to see his new son.
