A 50-year-old unnamed woman died of carrying a ‘Stone baby’ for the past 9 years.
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| X-Ray image of a woman carrying an unborn 'Stone baby', Image by BMC |
This 50-year-old unnamed woman is a refugee from Congo, first moved to Burundi and then to Tanzania. There she had given birth to 8 children which delivered naturally. During her 9th Pregnancy, she found that the baby was not moving and visited a Clinic in a refugee camp. Doctors told her that the baby had no heartbeat and has been died. Doctors recommended cleaning the miscarriage uterus normally at home and asked her to visit the clinic if that doesn’t work.
Though she followed the instructions, she could not clean her miscarriage uterus normally. So, she decided to seek the help of the Medics. When she came out of her house to visit the clinic, people around the clinic said that she had done ‘Evil work’ by killing a baby. This made her believe, some Satan killed her baby and that no medical experts could treat her.
She was carrying the baby for the past nine years with almost no or minimal symptoms. Once she was resettled in the US, visited doctors with complaints of Indigestion and stomach cramps after eating. A CT scan was done and that scan revealed that she had a calcified fetus, which compressed her intestine which lead to indigestion and other symptoms.
This rare phenomenon of the calcified fetus has only been recorded less than 300 times. This phenomenon occurs due to ectopic pregnancy ( When a fertilized egg gets implanted outside the uterus ). This abnormally implanted baby usually dies and is not released from the body which leads to many complications.
What is Lithopedion?
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| JG Clark, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
This woman suffered from a condition called Lithopedion.
Lithopedion is a condition in which the fertilized egg gets implanted in the stomach instead of the uterus. So that baby does not receive enough blood supply, the baby dies eventually. Now, this dead fetus has no way to leave the body. So Instead of allowing the baby to rot inside the abdomen and cause infection to the mother, the body of the mother mummifies the fetus.
Accumulation of Calcium salts is known as Calcification. The human body uses this calcification process as a protective barrier against potential infection. Sometimes this calcified fetus stays in the body even for 60 years asymptomatic( Without causing any symptoms ).
Her Final Stage
In this case, the calcified fetus started obstructing the intestine. So that the nutrients which have been taken could not be absorbed by her body. Doctors offered her surgery but she refused because she believed someone has done black magic on her when she was in Africa.
Unfortunately, the woman died 14 months after she reached the US. “Severe malnutrition and starvation is the cause for her death”, Doctors said.