Woman and newborn survive three days after fending off placenta-hungry bees

After giving birth to her baby in the Oroville, Calif. woods, Amber Panghorn claims to have survived with only a can of soda, three apples, and a bottle of water for three whole days before lighting some dry sagebrush on fire with hairspray and a lighter to catch the U.S. Department of Forestry’s attention.

“I laid out a sleeping back in the backseat, lied down, gripped the handle above the back window and gave birth to my daughter,” Panghorn told KHSL.

Panghorn got lost last Thursday, she told NBC Sacramento, after taking an unfamiliar route home to her parents’ house, and ran out of gas (and cellphone service).

While waiting for someone to show up and bring help, Panghorn claims to have faced a variety of calamities, including bees stinging at the baby’s placenta. According to KHSL, she “didn’t even cut the umbilical cord” until a day after her daughter’s birth because “she feared she would have nothing to eat.”

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Forest Service said both mother and daughter were rescued from the forest on Saturday, and that both are currently being treated in a hospital.