A 35-year-old mum-of-three died just hours after the delivery her third child.
Joanne Jones was taken into theatre for a routine procedure just after the birth of her son, Riley Jeff Jo Jones.
Doctors at the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton, needed to remove a piece of retained placenta from Joanne's womb, but she suffered a heart attack while in theatre.
Medics battled to stabilise her, but she died nine hours later.
Her heartbroken family have told their local paper that Joanne was the 'best mam in the world' and that they cannot believe her life was taken so suddenly.
"I don't think it will ever sink in," her husband Anthony said. "I'm just so glad Joanne got to hold Riley after he was born even if it was just for a short time, she had him on her chest.
"I got pictures of him like that but none of her holding him because I didn't think she wouldn't be coming back. She saw me with him as well, she did that for us."
He added that Joanne was the 'backbone of our family' and leaves behind her devastated daughters Millie and Connie, and her parents, Dianne Baker, 56, dad Jeff Baker, 56, and sister Naomi Baker, 27.
Her mum told reporters that Joanne had been desperate to give her a grandson because they've never had a boy in the family.
"She would have idolised Riley, she fought to get that baby out safe," Dianne said. "She would have wanted him to live instead of her, I'm just glad that she got to see him."
Joanne, who was a teaching assistant and nursery teacher, had suffered complications during her pregnancy and Riley had arrived a month early.
She had been told she had a low lying placenta during her 20-week scan, and advised to undergo a Caesarean.
On July 22, two months before her due date, Joanne's waters broke as she celebrated her daughter Millie's eighth birthday at Butlins.
She was hospitalized until July 29, and then returned to hospital every few days for check ups.
On August 9, she complained of a pain in her side, but medical staff could not find anything wrong. Three days later, she began to bleed, and her doctors decided to induce her for a natural delivery.
Little Riley was born on August 13.
Joanne and Anthony's daughters Connie, 11, and Millie, eight, told the paper that they will tell little Riley all about their mum when he is older.
Her husband said it will be a while before he can return to work, but that Joanne had him 'well trained' so he can look after his three children.