A mum nearly died giving birth after suffering a rare reaction to her epidural which stopped her heart and left her in an induced coma.
Chloe Holbrook, 22, collapsed and died for eight minutes after doctors injected just a small amount of the drug into her system.
Her partner Reece, 24, looked on in horror as she fell unconscious and was whisked away for an emergency C-section to deliver their son, called Hugo.
Miraculously, mum and baby have made a full recovery from the horrifying ordeal - and now Chloe is keen to speak about what happened.
Talking to the Mirror, Chloe said: "I can't fault the NHS at all and will be forever grateful to them for saving me and my baby boy.
Get the news you want straight to your inbox. Sign up for a Mirror newsletter here
"But I missed out on everything I'd dreamed of while pregnant. It still gets me. I didn't hear Hugo's first cry or watch Reece cut the cord.
"I woke up from the coma completely disorientated and with no memory, all because I had no clue about the risk that the epidural carried."
Chloe was admitted to Milton Keynes Central Hospital at 38 weeks and two days pregnant on December 14 last year, as doctors were set to induce her.
She was moved up to the labour ward the next day, where her contractions started.
Everything was fine - until she agreed to have the epidural, a pain-relieving injection that is often given to women in childbirth.
Chloe initially developed a headache as her blood pressure plunged, before going into cardiac arrest.
Quicking thinking NHS staff performed five minutes of chest compressions and then carried out a C-section in a bid to save Hugo's life.
The tot was born lifeless but recovered in seconds, while Chloe was injected with adrenaline.
Recalling the horrific moment, dad Reece said: "I had hold of Chloe's hands while they delivered the epidural.
"Within 10 or 20 seconds, she said she had a headache and we laid her down on the bed.
"Her eyes started going funny and then she just went out of it. I was calling her name and she wasn't responding."
Reece watched on in panic as staff delivered CPR and put an oxygen mask on Chloe before they decided to carry out the C-section.
She was then placed in an induced coma for 10 hours and given assistance to breathe - and only met her son for the first time when she awoke.
At around 11 am the next day, Reece visited his partner but she wasn't conscious, before finally waking up a few hours later.
At this point, mum Chloe got to meet Hugo - but was still struggling with the effects of the medication.
Incredibly, she left the hospital six days later on Sunday, December 19 - seven days before she was actually meant to give birth.
Speaking from her home in Northamptonshire, she said: "I can't remember it at all. I recall going into the hospital and then suddenly I had a baby.
"It was surreal. I cried and I cried and I cried the first time I heard what happened, it still feels like I'm reading someone else's story.
"I still don't know how to feel about it."
"It was told to me what happened so many times, it took a while to soak in. I first found out while I was in intensive care.
"It just didn't register. It was only when I came home and spoke to my family - who witnessed it - it began to make sense."
Doctors told her afterwards they had never seen a reaction like hers, and have since improved their systems.
Now the blood pressure medication she was treated with is kept on the trolley they use when carrying out epidurals, in a bid to slash precious seconds.
At a meeting with hospital staff who treated her after she was released, a staggered anaesthetist told the mum it was a 'miracle' to see her doing so well.
Thoughtful Chloe brought flowers as a gift for the midwives who treated her, alongside staff who gave her CPR.
The thankful mum says she was told the rare reaction she experienced affects about one in every 10,000 women.
She said: "The key thing was that I wasn't starved of oxygen. That's why I'm not brain-damaged.
"Although I wasn't breathing it myself, they were pumping it around my body. I am here as I was before because they did that.
"My family were terrified I might not be the same person as I was before."
But now she's enjoying life with cheeky Hugo, who is two months old and thriving. And she isn't put off having another child after doctors reassured her she's highly unlikely to suffer the reaction again.
She said: "They said I could have an epidural again, not that I would.
"They ran some very thorough tests to ensure it wasn't an allergic reaction."
But she is keen for future parents to have more information - as she might not have agreed to the epidural if she'd known of the small risk.
She said: "I just want women to know the risks that could happen. It's so small but they need to know it ahead of giving birth so they have time to think.
"It would be helpful if women can know these things ahead of time and can ask questions, or even be given a leaflet with this information on it."
You can sign Chloe's petition here.
