How a baby was born into her mother's abdomen, and saved by a 30 second surgery.

This festive season Masina and Adam Frost have an extra reason to be grateful.

Delivered by an emergency, high-risk operation by Professor Andrew Shennan, at London’s St Thomas’ Hospital, Masina was 31 weeks pregnant with baby Sephina when she went in for a regular check up because she was feeling ‘uncomfortable’.

Luckily, Professor Shennan was a high-risk pregnancy expert and immediately realised that her uterus wasn’t supplying blood to her placenta and thus starving Sephina of oxygen.

In Shennan’s own words, he told the Daily Mail that it was “truly was a miracle”.

“If Masina hadn’t been with me at that moment, we would have lost Sephina.

“We knocked her out with a general anaesthetic and from my first incision to delivery, it was just 30 seconds, the fastest emergency C-section I have ever done.”

LISTEN: When is it just time to induce labour when you’re weeks overdue and just want to your baby out of you. Post continues after audio.

The reason for the lack of blood supply was discovered to be a uterine rupture. When Masina’s uterus ruptured, her daughter was born into her abdominal cavity. While it’s very, very rare, if a rupture is large enough, a baby can leave the uterus and move into the abdomen. It’s extremely dangerous for both mother and baby, and can lead to hemorrhaging and loss of the uterus.

Masina has a congenital condition that presents difficulties being pregnant because of her smaller-than-average uterus and abnormally connected fallopian tubes.

Although her eldest daughter, Amelia, was conceived after five rounds IVF in February 2012, a uterine rupture during her second pregnancy meant her late son Theo suffered brain damage due to oxygen deprivation and died at nine months.

Women who have scars from previous C-sections, like Masina, or uterine surgeries are particularly at risk as they can stretch and tear during later pregnancies.

Now a month after her ordeal, both Masina and baby Sephina are happy and healthy, and while she wasn't quite home for Christmas, Sephina was released from hospital two days ago on the 27th of December.

The West London resident, Masina says that she feels "so enormously lucky we have our beautiful daughter."

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