It may sound unbelievable, but it’s true: fewer than 300 cases have been noted in 400 years of medical literature, making it very rare.
In 1955, a 26-year-old woman named Zahra Aboutalib was rushed to the hospital to deliver her baby. However, after an excruciating 48 hours of labor, she still could not deliver the baby and was advised to undergo a cesarean section. The thought of dying in childbirth terrified her, prompting her to flee the hospital and hide in her home. Nearly 50 years later, she gave birth to a lithopedion, often referred to as a “stone baby.”
There is a specific term for this: ‘Lithopedion,’ better known as a ‘stone baby.’
This rare phenomenon typically happens when a fetus in an abdominal pregnancy dies and is too large for the body to reabsorb, leading to the fetus calcifying externally. This process shields the mother’s body from the dead tissue of the baby and helps prevent infection.
In Zahra’s case, the doctors removed a calcified mass that bore a remarkable resemblance to a mummy. To protect itself, the mother’s body encased the fetus in a calciferous substance so that the immune system would not react.
Below is a picture of another case, involving a 92-year-old woman who delivered a child (albeit not a live baby).
