A new mother died in a hospital maternity ward just moments after texting her husband to say she could come home with their first son.
Nurses discovered Jane Whiteside, 41, slumped in a chair in a private room at Burnley General Hospital, with her newborn baby boy Ben crying in the cot at her side.
Despite nurses' efforts to perform heart massage, the mother-of-two was declared dead 40 minutes later.
Her husband Stephen, told the inquest in Burnley: "She was wanting to come home but it hadn't been said when she could come home.
"Jane was trying to push for the Sunday morning. As far as I'm aware it was going fine, she just wanted to come home and texted in the morning about 8am saying 'bring the bag which I'm going to be packing, I'm coming home'."
Health care assistant Wendy Fallows told the inquest that she had checked on Mrs Whiteside at around 8.40am to see if she had been given breakfast and she had been asleep in the chair.
She added: "I had gone into the room and everything appeared peaceful, the baby was asleep and Jane appeared to be asleep, the (breakfast) tray was by her.
"I knew she had got her breakfast and that's what I was checking. I looked in, I didn't go in. It was a peaceful scene, all okay and no concerns."
But an hour later Mrs Fallows returned to the room to collect the breakfast tray to find Jane still apparently asleep but with Ben crying.
She added: "She was in the same position she had been in before. I called out to her, there was no response. I walked past the baby and went to Jane in the chair, she appeared pale and unresponsive.
"I called her name and gently shook her, there was no response."
Mrs Whiteside's family, from Burnley, in Lancashire, now face further turmoil after doctors failed to reach a conclusion about the cause of her death, the inquest was told.
One pathologist has blamed the post-birth infection postpartem sepsis while another cited cardio respiratory arrest.
The inquest was told Mrs Whiteside had attended Burnley General Hospital on September 22, 2011 for a pre-arranged Caesarean section because of her scoliosis - curvature of her spine.
Ben was delivered successfully the same day and after his mother came round from a general anaesthetic she was said to have been 'extremely happy and looking forward to the future'.
However, Mrs Whiteside's mother Jean Ridehough became concerned with the aftercare of her daughter when her legs became extremely swollen.
Mrs Ridehough, 59, who had seen her daughter every day up until her death told the inquest: "I never felt the recovery was quite as good as it was with Lucy. I was really concerned about her legs, they were really swollen and misshapen but no one else appeared to be concerned when I asked about the lack of attention.
"You are very much left to feel responsible for your care, it was like a case of you have had your baby, recovery and go home."
Anaesthetist Dr Samar Johana told the inquest that before the operation Mrs Whiteside had 'appeared well' and added that there had been no aspiration (breathing in a foreign object) due to the anaesthetic. The hearing continues.