At week 42 of the pregnancy, while having uterine contractions every 2–3 min, the woman suddenly sat upright, was unable to respond, had agitated eye deviation, showed repeating head nodding for 1 min, and was confused for 5 min. During this period she had a prolonged uterine contraction, with no return to baseline for 4 min, and the foetal heart rate fell from 140 to 78 beats per minute.