Pregnant for 46 years???

Last week I was watching Discovery/Health channel about a woman that had been pregant for 46 years. Wow, can you imagine that? The story was sad, yet fascinating at the same time. I wish I could remember all of the details of the story but I can't, so I'll give the few that I actually do remember.

I believe the woman was in her sixties when they found the baby. The woman actually knew all along that she was pregnant. Fortysix years earlier she went into the hospital during her pregnancy, I believe for stomach pains. While she was there, she could hear the screams of another pregnant woman in another room. This woman ended up dying during her delivery. This frightened the woman so she left the hospital.

I believe that shortly after this her baby stopped moving. She just thought that her baby was sleeping that is why it stopped moving. I am not sure why it never occured to her prior to her hosptial visit 46 years later that she should seek medical attention.

Eventually when she did go to the doctor years later and they examined her they were amazed at what they found. I am sure that the last thing you would expect to find in a 60+ year old woman is a baby.

The woman was carrying a stone baby, or lithopedian. This happens when a fetus dies during an ectopic pregnancy. The baby is too large to be reabsorbed by the body. This caused the body to surround the fetus with calcium. I guess this is the way the body reacts when it can't reject the fetus, its way of protecting itself. The fetus then solidifies and that is how you get the name stone baby.

Could you imagine having that inside of your body for 46 years? I am not sure how old the fetus was when it died, but from the looks for it, it seemed pretty big. This just amazes me, I found the story to be very fascinating.