This 75-year-old woman was shocked to discover that she had been carrying a 4-kilo baby for... 46 years

The human body is definitely capable of extraordinary feats. Indeed, in 2002, a 75-year-old woman discovered that she had been carrying a baby in her womb for 46 years.

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fallen pregnant Unknowingly, Zahara Boutaleb, a Moroccan from Casablanca, had visited a local hospital in 1956 but 'due to a lack of high-performance technical means at the time, the pregnancy had not been detected'. However, at that time, she was unaware that a fetus was already present and developing in her womb.

According to the examinations carried out afterwards, the pregnancy would have followed its normal course and it was only after nine months of gestation that the death of the fetus would have occurred. The latter would then be gradually enveloped in a shell of limestone produced by his mother's body. This natural insulator, as incredible as it may seem, would have allowed Zahara Boutaleb to avoid health problems for several decades.

This is explained in particular by the fact that the pregnancy suffered by this patient is a form of ectopic pregnancy. It is characterized by the fact that the egg resulting from fertilization nests and develops in the abdominal cavity and not in the uterus. These pregnancies often result in malformations of the fetus and a high mortality rate, whether for the mother or the baby.

It was not until July 2002, when she was plagued by severe abdominal pain, that Zahara Boutaleb decided to go to the CHU Rabat for consultation. On site, she is taken care of urgently by Professor Ouazzani Taibi, head of the gynecology-obstetrics department of the maternity ward. His teams will carry out numerous checks before discovering the unthinkable: the patient has been carrying a baby of 42 centimeters and 3.7 kilos for 46 years!

Credit: Gaye A.M. / J. Forensic

A fossilized baby

In the process, an operation was scheduled and the abdominal part of the septuagenarian was opened by the professor, who was able to remove the fetus, fossilized over time. In medical jargon, these babies are called 'lithopedion'. This term comes from “litho” (meaning “stone” in Greek) and “pedion” (meaning “child”). It therefore designates a “child of stone”, in other words a petrified foetus. This is the result of an undiagnosed and untreated abdominal pregnancy.

Impressive, isn't it?