Lithopedion is a term derived from the combination of the Latin words stone and baby, and transferred to Turkish as “petrified baby”.
This condition, which can occur provided that the fetus has completed its 14-week development, concerns most women and their relatives, both expectant and non-pregnant women. So how and when could this unbelievable event occur?
Everything starts with the death of the fetus.
The fetus that dies in the womb during pregnancy can sometimes threaten the health of the mother. Whether or not the mother is harmed by this situation varies in direct proportion to the baby’s large or small size.
When a large fetus dies in the womb, it begins to degenerate. The decomposition of a dead organism in the body can lead to various infections. For this reason, when the fetus dies, it should be taken from the womb by abortion.
What happens when the dead fetus does not leave the mother’s body?
In such a case, the body accepts the dead fetus as a foreign object and covers this object with lime to prevent damage to the body.
When the body surrounds the deceased fetus with lime, it is called a “petrified baby” phenomenon.
The petrified baby is, in a way, another form of ectopic pregnancy.
An ectopic pregnancy is caused by a fertilized egg attaching to an oviduct on its way to the uterus; Lithopedion occurs when the fertilized egg fails to reach the oviduct and attaches outside the uterus to an ovary or intestines.
This situation occurs in three different ways, but only one is the true Lithopedion.
In fact, while the calcification of the fetus in the mother’s womb is a real petrified baby, the formation of calcification in both the fetus and the fetal membrane or the formation of calcification only in the fetal membrane can be mistaken for a petrified baby.
While the average age of women exposed to petrified baby is 50 years, symptoms indicating this ailment can sometimes be observed but sometimes not.
Stone babies are seen after menopause in more than half of women between the ages of 23 and 100, but they remain in the womb for an average of 22 years between 4 and 70 years.
Although it does not show any fixed symptoms, urinary problems, irregular or sudden menstruation, unidentified swellings in the abdomen are among the symptoms of Lithopedion.
In cases where there are no symptoms, the petrified fetus can survive for years in the mother’s womb.
The most surprising of these cases belongs to a 90-year-old woman.
The woman, who was found to have carried a fully developed baby in the abdominal cavity for an estimated 70 years, stated that she had various pregnancy histories years ago, but she could not be sure of any of them. It is known that he complained that it was painful.
Lithopedion is not the end of life.
While the case of petrified baby is not life-threatening for any woman, it is possible for mothers who experience this situation to give birth to healthy children as much as they desire in the coming years.
- Sources: Nbc News, Psychology Today, Reddit, The Sun
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