A mother has spoken about her shock at doctors performing an emergency caesarean on her after she had already given birth.
Amber Hughes, from Leicester in the UK, said doctors had cut her open and were still searching for the baby minutes later when cries could be heard under the bedsheet.
Baby Olly, who was born at 30 weeks, had entered the world on his own.
Hughes, 25, said the experience was "horrific".
"I was expecting my bundle of joy to be passed to me, but instead I watched panic spread over doctors' faces," she told the Daily Mail.
"For two whole minutes they were truly baffled. I was literally going into meltdown – where had my baby gone? It couldn't just disappear.
"Suddenly we heard something. Then they found Olly under the sheet, having passed naturally."
"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 traumatic birth at Leicester Royal Infirmary occurred after a difficult pregnancy.
Hughes, already a mum to Kayden, 6, Harvey, 4, and Jessica, 2, lost her mucus plug when just 24 weeks pregnant. A month later her water broke.
Doctors managed to delay labour for another 16 days, but baby Olly then started to make his way into the world.
After 36 hours of labour the mum was taken for an emergency caesarean due to the baby having an infection – but the doctors cut too late.
"My body was telling me it was ready and I should have listened to it," Hughes 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."
Weighing only 1.53kg, Olly was rushed to the NICU as his mum tried to come to terms what happened.
Five weeks later he was discharged, and he is now doing well at home.
Hughes and her husband Daniel are still looking for answers from the hospital. "I now have a visible scar that wasn't needed, and I'm still recovering from my C-section," Hughes said.
"I'm thankful my baby is okay, but we'll never be able to forget the day the doctors lost our baby."
Elaine Broughton, head of midwifery for Leicester's Hospitals, made a statement to the Daily Mail, explaining the events that led to the caesarean.
"The decision to carry out an emergency caesarean is never taken lightly but we thought it was for the best in this case," she said.
"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."