The mum was experiencing extreme pain. Photo: Shutterstock

An unborn baby kicked so hard it tore a hole in her mum's womb, nearly killing them both.

The woman, known only as Zhang, was just 35 weeks pregnant, but doctors at the Peking University Shenzhen Hospital had to act quickly after she arrived at the hospital with stomach pains.

The mum was experiencing extreme pain and had problems with her blood pressure, pulse and breathing, doctors wrote in a social media post.

Ultrasound showing the damage to the mother's uterus. Photo: Peking University Shenzhen Hospital

At first, specialists thought her womb had been ruptured so performed an ultrasound and what they found was surprising.

It showed that the baby had "kicked through" the uterus wall into the mum's abdominal cavity. Doctors said the tiny baby's thighs were stuck.

They delivered the baby via an emergency caesarean-section in order to stop the mother's blood loss and prevent the baby from contracting a life-threatening infection.

It took surgeons Zhang Lei, Zhang Yanping and Zhong Shilin just 10 minutes to safely deliver the little girl, saving her and her mother from death.

Doctors said the woman had a 7-centimetre "break" in her womb wall as a result of her unborn baby's kicks.

After examining the woman's medical history, it was discovered the mum previously had fibroids removed from her womb. That operation had resulted in a womb scar, leaving a weak spot on her uterus' wall.

It is not uncommon for women to experience a complete rupture when a tear occurs, typically at the site of an old caesarean-section scar, but is less common for it to occur prior to going into labour.

Doctors said both mum and baby were doing well, despite the traumatic events surrounding the little girl's birth.