Warning: This article contains images that some readers may find disturbing.
In March 2017, a 31-year-old woman went to her local hospital in Barnaul, a city in Western Siberia, Russia. The woman, who preferred to remain anonymous, was already 41 weeks pregnant and simply wanted to ask the doctors if her baby was healthy. The ensuing events cannot be easily forgotten…
The soon-to-be mother revealed to the doctors that she had not gone to a single examination throughout her entire pregnancy. She said she didn’t trust doctors and was skeptical about conventional medicine. However, when she hadn’t felt any contractions post 41 weeks, she decided to seek help.
The doctors carried out a thorough examination and could hardly believe their eyes. The baby was not growing in the mother’s womb, but in the abdominal cavity! This rare condition is a form of ectopic pregnancy, whereby the embryo or fetus develops outside the uterus in the abdomen. Such pregnancies have a very low survival rate but, on rare occasions, a healthy baby can be delivered.
The doctors immediately prepared themselves and the young woman for an emergency operation. A successful abdominal cavity pregnancy is extremely rare and dangerous. Only a dozen cases are known worldwide in which the child was born healthy. To safely deliver the baby there was no other option other than to perform a C-section.
With such a complicated procedure, both mother and child are at high risk. The removal of the placenta can lead to uncontrollable bleeding, which in the worst case can be fatal. Overall, the «birth» lasted nearly two hours.
When the doctors removed the amniotic sac from the mother’s belly, they were able to witness a miracle first-hand. The little girl was not only breathing, she was completely developed, healthy and already weighed close to 9 lbs. The proud mother decided to give her daughter a special name: Veronika — The Victor.
Their story spread rapidly throughout the country. In the video below (in Russian) you can watch one of the many TV reports on it:
Veronika can’t yet appreciate how lucky she was. According to doctors, her survival chances were just 1 in 625 million. The exuberantly happy mother, on the other hand, knows how fortunate she was and has stated in an interview that she will go to the doctor straightaway during any future pregnancies. The fact that these skilled doctors were able to deliver her daughter despite all the odds has left a lasting impression on the young mother and has completely altered her way of thinking.
