Aussie mum warns about deadly listeria after her placenta "shut down" while pregnant

Kimberley Booth had a healthy second pregnancy and followed all safety guidelines, avoiding risky food and thoroughly washing vegetables, however, when she was 35 weeks pregnant, she says her unborn child stopped moving.

"His heartbeat was fine. His blood flow was fine. But he wasn't even lifting a pinky," Booth told Yahoo7, saying she went for a scan that afternoon and the decision to perform an emergency C-section was made.

Booth says she's certain if they had waited, her son Eli would have died. 

"I'm convinced that if we waited then we wouldn't have our child. No one wanted to say how bad it could have been, but it was very obvious to me we came far too close."

Following the surgery, Booth's placenta was sent away for testing and returned a positive result for listeria.

"My placenta got listeria and shut down to protect me. It shut [my son] down in doing so," she said, revealing that just 24 hours earlier she had eaten rockmelon. 

Australians have been urged to throw out rockmelon after the outbreak which left two NSW people dead.

"Any current rockmelon bought before today, discard or take it back to the shop," Australian Melon Association industry development manager Dianne Fullelove told AAP.

This article originally appeared on Marie Claire.