A PREGNANT mum lost her baby and all four of her limbs after her cervix opened too soon.

Kayleigh Ferguson-Walker, 32, was six months pregnant with her second child when she fell ill with flu-like symptoms.

She rapidly started to deteriorate and her husband Ramon rushed her to the hospital near their home in Naples, Florida, in March 2017.

By the time she arrived, her heart rate had soared while her blood pressure dropped and her kidneys were beginning to fail.

During an examination, doctors discovered a problem with her baby and decided to induce labour.

But sadly the baby didn't make it.

Medics soon realised Kayleigh had contracted sepsis – a potentially deadly infection that was threatening to shut down vital organs, including her heart, lungs and liver.

Desperate battle

She was rushed to intensive care and put into a medically-induced coma for two weeks while her body tried to battle the infection.

When she came round, her arms and legs were puffy and black.

She told Naples Daily News: "I was a big water balloon."

The tissues were necrotic – in other words they had died from lack of blood flow.

I was a big water balloon

She was transferred to another facility and told they would need to amputate all four limbs.

Under a haze of medication, Kayleigh quickly agreed – despite protests from her family members.

She said: “I wanted to see my child grow up. I accepted the fact that it needed to be done.”

Incompetent cervix

Doctors believe the sepsis was possibly caused by a complication in her pregnancy known as incompetent cervix.

It's a condition in which the pressure of a baby growing can cause the mother's cervix to open prematurely, resulting in premature labour or miscarriage.

The condition can also increase the risk of infection.

The triumph is still being here. Having a family, being a wife and mum

Kayleigh's legs were amputated below the knee, her left arm below the elbow and her right arm above the elbow.

She has to use a wheelchair but is determined to become independent again, especially for four-year-old daughter Aaliyah.

She has mastered how to feed herself, put on make up, brush her hair and move herself from her wheelchair to the sofa or bed without aid.

Kayleigh said: “Being able to do that felt good. Once I got over the fear, the task became so much easier.

"From 2017 to now, I see it as a new lifestyle. I didn’t want to take it on as something impossible to live with, to live through.

"The triumph is still being here. Having a family, being a wife and mum."

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