Pregnant Woman Almost Dies When Baby Kicks Through Uterine Wall

When a baby kicks, it is usually seen as a sweet sign of life within the womb. However, for this new mother, the baby's kicks led to a life-threatening situation.

Mother-to-be, who was addressed in reports as Zhang, experienced strong stomach pain shortly after entering her third trimester. Once believed to be a simple stomach upset, quickly got worse and Zhang was admitted into the emergency department at Peking University Shenzhen Hospital in China for a possible uterus rupture, a report by the Sun said.

Doctors performed an ultra-sound on the mother to discover the baby had kicked and tore the uterine wall, leaving the baby's leg stuck within the mother's abdominal cavity. Within five mintues, Zhang was rushed into surgery for an emergency C-section with the possibility of the mother experiencing an internal bleed and going into shock.

The baby was safely delivered within 10 minutes and both the mother and newborn are doing well, according to the report.

It was also discovered that the mother had surgery in 2016 on her uterus to remove fibroids. The leftover scar led to a weakening in the uterine lining, which resulted in the 7 centimeter tear.

Uterine ruptures are extremely rare. According to a study done at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals in the U.K. in 2013, saw that only 12 cases of 36,000 births resulted in uterine ruptures over a 6-year period.

The U.K. also released a study on Wednesday that vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women, will be able to eat raw, soft boiled or runny eggs. Previously restricted from children, pregnant women and the elderly, The Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food said that through improved hygiene in U.K.'s farms, the risk of salmonella is greatly reduced and runny eggs will be safe for everyone to consume for the first time in 30 years.