An unborn baby's fingernail or hair almost killed the pregnant mom during delivery. Doctors were forced to deliver twins at eight months after their mother suffered a life-threatening, yet very rare condition during labor and delivery, according to a report.
The British mother, Angela Cottam, almost died after a suspected fingernail or hair from one of them passed into her bloodstream during their birth.
The rare condition - which affects only one in 80,000 births - caused 32-year-old Mrs Cottam to suffer severe internal bleeding and her lungs collapsed.
Cottam lost seven pints of blood, needed 22 transfusions and spent 12 hours in a coma, when her family were told she might not pull through.
"I feel so lucky to be here and really blessed that both the girls are with us because it could have been so different," said Cottam, 33.
"There are moments when I've been on my own, and I've had a little cry and thought 'What if?' But I try not to dwell on that and just thank my lucky stars the doctors and midwives on duty that day recognized what was happening."
Cottam, who also has a four-year-old daughter Olivia with her husband, was admitted to the Countess of Chester Hospital suffering from pre-eclampsia - the potentially fatal condition which causes high blood pressure and swelling in pregnancy.
Cottam's lungs were collapsing because she was suffering a rare complication, known as an amniotic fluid embolism, where fluid from the sac surrounding the babies leaks into the mother's bloodstream through blood vessels in the womb.
