Mother's Caesarean trauma.

A mother claims she was given a Caesarean section after she had already given birth naturally.

Amber Hughes, 21, from Leicester, said doctors were baffled after performing the surgery and finding no baby.

She says medics at the Leicester Royal Infirmary only discovered her newborn son in bed sheets two minutes later when he started crying.

Amber said: "It was horrific. I was expecting my bundle of joy to be passed to me, but instead I watched panic spread over doctors' faces. For two minutes they were baffled until they heard little cries coming from my lap and pulled up the sheet to find Olli lying between my legs.

“I wondered if it was the drugs I was on and I was imagining it. Not only was I cut open unnecessarily, but my poor baby was under a sheet alone."

The young mum had been warned by doctors in May she would have a premature pregnancy and in July she went into labour.

Amber and her long-term partner Daniel, 25, a plasterer, already had three children together, Kayden, 6, Harvey, 4 and Jessica, 2, before their unexpected fourth, Olly.

At three cms dilated and nearly 36 hours in labour, doctors feared Amber wouldn't give birth naturally and, because her unborn baby had an infection, rushed her into theatre for an emergency C-Section.

She said: "I'd hoped for a natural birth like my others but they told me they had no choice because Olly wasn't coming on his own and it was too dangerous to leave him.

"Daniel was by my side the whole time. I was awake when they cut me open and could see Daniel's baffled reaction when there was no baby there."

Weighing in at a 3lb 6oz, Olly was taken to the antenatal unit, before being handed to the nervous couple an hour later.

She said: "I didn't even receive an apology. The doctor just explained that my baby had already begun his descent in the birth canal when they cut me open and it was an odd situation. I now have a visible scar that wasn't needed, and I'm still recovering from my C-section.”

Head of midwifery for Leicester's Hospitals, Elaine Broughton, said: "We were really very worried about Amber and her baby as there were signs of infection and her waters had broken quite some time ago, yet the delivery didn't appear to be progressing.

"The decision to carry out an emergency caesarean is never taken lightly but we thought it was for the best in this case. Clearly, between the decision to operate being taken and Amber's arrival in theatre, mother nature had once again taken over.

"We're looking at the chain of events in detail and will share our findings with the parents. We're sorry that this happened but glad that mum and baby are doing well."