Woman gives birth to healthy baby that grew in her ABDOMEN - not her womb

  • The woman, in Tanzania, went to hospital with stomach pain at 32 weeks
  • Also noticed her baby not moving a lot and she was struggling to urinate
  • Previous antenatal check-ups had suggested the pregnancy was normal
  • Doctors thought symptoms were caused by anaemia and an infection
  • Tests eventually revealed the baby was growing in her abdomen
  • There was no amniotic sac or protective amniotic fluid
  • Baby was delivered weighing 3lbs 7oz and both were discharged healthy

By Emma Innes

PUBLISHED: 07:49 EST, 12 March 2014 | UPDATED: 10:17 EST, 12 March 2014

A 22-year-old has given birth to a healthy baby girl who grew outside her womb.

The woman, in Tanzania, only discovered when she was 32 weeks pregnant that her baby was developing in her abdomen.

It is thought that the fertilised egg initially implanted in her fallopian tube from where it was expelled, allowing it to implant again in her abdomen.

A 22-year-old has given birth to a healthy baby that grew outside her womb, in her abdomen (file picture)

A 22-year-old has given birth to a healthy baby that grew outside her womb, in her abdomen (file picture)

The woman was referred to a hospital in Mwanza, Tanzania, after complaining of abdominal pain and noticing that her baby was not moving very much.

She also reported having difficulty urinating, according to a report of her case in the journal BioMed Central.

 

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She had already had two antenatal check-ups after which she was told the pregnancy was progressing normally.

She had an ultrasound scan in Mwanza which appeared to be normal and doctors assumed the pregnancy was textbook but that the mother had anaemia and a urinary tract infection.

WHAT IS AN ABDOMINAL PREGNANCY?

An abdominal pregnancy is a form of ectopic pregnancy.

Ectopic pregnancies occur when a fertilised egg implants outside the womb - usually in the fallopian tubes, but occasionally in the abdomen.

Abdominal pregnancies usually occur as a result of a fallopian tube rupturing or expelling a fertilised egg that has first implanted in the tube.

Unlike with other ectopic pregnancies, there is a chance that a viable baby will be born following an abdominal pregnancy but there is also an increased risk of the mother dying.

Abdominal pregnancies are thought to account for about one in every 10,000 pregnancies.

But they are dangerous as they can cause severe bleeding in the mother.

A woman with an abdominal pregnancy will not be able to give birth naturally and the baby will have to be delivered surgically.

If this does not happen, the baby will die and can become calcified inside the mother.

Babies born after abdominal pregnancies have a high rate of birth defects because they can be compressed as a result of there being no amniotic fluid as a protective buffer.

They treated her for these conditions and her symptoms eased a little.

However, a second scan two days later showed that the woman’s baby was actually floating in her abdominal cavity.

The patient was found to be carrying a viable baby even though it was not in a protective amniotic sac and was not surrounded by the normal amniotic fluid.

She was also noted to have a normal, but empty, womb and normal ovaries and fallopian tubes.

The baby was successfully delivered during surgery.

The little girl weighed 3lbs 7oz (1.7kg).

The mother had to be given a blood transfusion because she had severe anaemia but she and the baby were both discharged from hospital healthy.

Abdominal pregnancies are rare forms of ectopic pregnancies which occur when the baby implants in the abdomen instead of the womb.

They are often not picked up on ultrasound scans and usually occur as a result of a fallopian tube rupturing or expelling a fertilised egg that has implanted in the tube.

Unlike with other ectopic pregnancies, there is a chance that a viable baby will be born following an abdominal pregnancy but there is also an increased risk of the mother dying.

Abdominal pregnancies are thought to account for about one in every 10,000 pregnancies.

Abdominal pregnancies are dangerous as they can cause severe bleeding in the mother. They can also result in anaemia and infection.

A woman with an abdominal pregnancy will not be able to give birth naturally and the baby will have to be delivered surgically.

If this does not happen, the baby will die and can become calcified inside the mother.

The baby girl was delivered surgically and she and her mother were both released from hospital healthy after the operation (file picture)

The baby girl was delivered surgically and she and her mother were both released from hospital healthy after the operation (file picture)

Babies born after abdominal pregnancies have a high rate of birth defects because they can be compressed as a result of there being no amniotic fluid as a protective buffer.

'I've seen maybe four or five abdominal pregnancies over the course of 25 years,' Dr Jill Rabin, chief of ambulatory care, obstetrics and gynecology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, told Live Science.

She added: 'It's very rare, but you have to keep it in your mind when examining a pregnant woman who has abdominal pain.'

Comments (24)

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Maybe she swallowed instead of spitting it out!!!

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You are a very nasty, sick person. Grow up!

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Thats so crazy!!

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Good luck to them both!

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Its not that unusual for embryos to start developing outside the womb but doesn't get any further than 10 weeks without catastrophe occurring. Women die of ectopic pregnancy at that point without modern medicine. That this pregnancy survived isn't unknown but its extremely rare. Obviously surgery is the only survival option and thank goodness for modern medicine. Its a wonderful outcome from something that was almost certainly a doomed scenario.

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Well said.

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The doctors in those countries couldn't tell a female body from a male body without look at the genitalia. You really want us to believe this? Please!!!!!!

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What are you talking about please?

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Don't be surprised that those same doctors that you're bashing, have colleagues that trained with them who are now working in US hospitals. They were tested on standards set by the United States National Board of Medical Examiners and passed those exams(read USMLE's). BTW, I'm one of those doctors; coincidentally, I was trained in Tanzania.

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I'm not so sure this story is accurate. Typically, abdominal pregnancies can be viable only when the placenta implants on the outside of the uterus so as to still access that large blood source. There's no there else in the abdomen, save maybe the liver, that a placenta could implant and get the necessary blood supply without causing significant illness much earlier on. And there has to be an amniotic sac with fluid inside. The fluid is what moves through the lungs. Without it, the fetus would draw air or other tissue into the lungs and be born without viable lungs. Three pounds at 32 weeks is not healthy. I'll bet this child has significant developmental issues.

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Impossible

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If the baby has proper NICU care after birth it can be healthy at that weight. It cannot be immediately discharged, though, but the story doesn't make this clear. The placenta implanted, obviously, somewhere and did cause significant bleeding pain and difficulty urinating but the diagnosis wasn't made and the mother manage to hold on until 32 weeks. This is rare, but plausible, IMHO.

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3pounds isn't healthy

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I'm a triplet, we were all 3 pounds and 2 months early, it doesn't necessarily mean they're going to have health issues.

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My younest was born 10 weeks early. She weighed 3lbs., 3oz. She was healthy at birth and was allowed to come home at 7 days of age. She is now 28 years old and still healthy.

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Score one for the level of healthcare in Tanzania.

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oh, geez..does this portend men giving birth now?

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Good question....

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