MOBILE, Ala. - A woman is accused of shooting heroin while she was giving birth, causing the death of her child.

WALA reports that 34-year-old Amanda Malpas was "mostly quiet" after her arrest Thursday.

Investigators with the Mobile County Sheriff's Office say Malpas was an avid drug user while she was pregnant with a little girl, and that drug use killed the baby.

Malpas admitted to using heroin and meth while pregnant, and even shooting up while in labor at her West Mobile home on March 5, according to the sheriff's office. Paramedics arrived to find the needle still in her arm.

"She admitted that when she felt the labor pains and felt the child breaching, she did self-administer a large dose of heroin," said Sgt. Mark Bailey of the Mobile County Sheriff's Office's Major Crimes Unit.

Malpas and her baby were rushed to a local hospital. Investigators say the child was struggling to breathe and died more than an hour after arriving.

"This is different, usually don't have a woman give birth in her own residence and inject herself during childbirth with a large dose of heroin intentionally," Sgt. Bailey said.

Malpas is charged with chemical endangerment of a child resulting in death, and investigators say it carries the same penalty as murder.

"I'm sorry," Malpas said as she was taken to jail Thursday, according to WALA.

The sheriff's office says she has other children but does not have custody.

Once a toxicology report comes back, the charges against Malpas could be upgraded to murder.