Last updated at 23:42 23 February 2008

A mother who fell into a coma during labour came back from the brink of death after her husband gave her "a bloody good rollicking".

Yvonne Sullivan, 28, suffered blood poisoning and blacked out after being told her newborn son had died during a traumatic birth.

She was taken to intensive care where Dominic, her 37-year-old husband, kept vigil for two weeks.

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It was Dom's stern telling-off that gave Yvonne Sullivan the strength to fight for life after she fell into a coma

When doctors told him they might have to switch off her lifesupport machine, he sprang into action.

Holding his wife's hand, he told her: "You start fighting, don't you dare give up on me now. I've had enough, stop mucking around and start breathing. Come back to me."

Two hours later she started breathing on her own.

Within five days Mrs Sullivan's ventilator was switched off and she regained consciousness.

Yesterday she said she remembered her husband berating her.

"I can't remember exactly what he said but I never liked getting told off by Dom," she recalled.

"Something inside me just clicked and I began to fight again.

"I had been on 100 per cent life support and I was deteriorating, but within two hours of him ordering me to get better I'd regained 5 per cent of my breathing.

"When I first came round I'd thought he'd been gone a few minutes, then he told me I'd been out for two weeks. It's a miracle really. I owe him so much."

Mrs Sullivan, from Westonsuper-Mare, Somerset, became pregnant shortly after marrying in September 2006.

But her unborn child was anaemic and needed regular blood transfusions in the womb.

Last July, Mrs Sullivan gave birth to Clinton at St Michael's Hospital in Bristol.

Two months premature, he died from a blood infection and her body soon went into septic shock, a condition in which the vital organs shut down.

Mrs Sullivan, who has a son Ryan, eight, from a previous marriage, was rushed to Bristol Royal Infirmary, where her condition worsened.

Her husband, a lorry driver, stayed by her bed washing and combing her hair and talking about family and friends.

Mr Sullivan said he joked about their Cyprus honeymoon, where she fell ill after catching pneumonia and ended up in a high dependency unit.

"When the doctors told me to think about turning off the life support I got angry," he added. "I grabbed her hand and began shouting at her. I gave her a bloody good rollicking.

"I'd already had to explain to Ryan that his brother Clinton had died, and that his mummy might not survive.

"He said he'd be cross with the doctors if they let mummy go to heaven. I kept telling her to pull through. Then I left the room to get some air.

"I came back two hours later and she had started to breath. It was incredible. Sometimes you find powers you just didn't know you had.

"I hope this gives hope to other people in similar situations."

Mrs Sullivan, who works as a sandwich maker and dance instructor, spent another week in hospital after her coma ended.

Although at first she struggled with basic tasks she has made a full recovery.

"I am fine now, doctors say it must be a miracle," she said.