California Baby Born With Almost No Blood in System Saved by Transfusion; Rare Hemorrhage in Womb Nearly Took Hope Juarez's Life

A California baby who was delivered by emergency C-section baffled doctors even before she was born.

Orange County newborn Hope Juarez's skin was nearly see-through when she exited her mother's womb six weeks ago. When doctors at the Kaiser Permanente-Irvine Medical Center pricked the child's foot, she didn't bleed.

Mother Jennifer Juarez told local station KABC-TV that she knew something wasn't right three weeks prior to her due date, when the child unexpectedly stopped kicking.

"She would kick around 10 times within half an hour," Juarez said, adding that she immediately sought out the help of her midwife.

"Something's not right," she told the anxious mother-to-be.

The family rushed to the hospital, where Juarez gave birth to her child after an emergency C-section.

"I knew that something was really wrong when they started pricking her feet to get blood to come out and there was no blood coming out," father Josh Juarez told KABC.

Doctors realized the child lost nearly 80 percent of the blood in her body due to a rare hemorrhage that occurred in the womb.

Kaiser neonatologist Dr. Marielle Nguyen said she wasn't sure how it happened.

"We don't know what causes it," she told KABC. "A lot of it just happens spontaneously."

Medical officials quickly administered a blood transfusion, which saved the child's life. Hope is now six weeks old.