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Old 01-25-2006, 10:53 AM   #18
Ben Lahnger
 
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Join Date: Dec 2005
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The documentary you are speaking of ran on The Learning Channel. In doing some research on this story, I found it is not an isolated incident. The following headline is a link to a coherent listing of several such stories, along with corroborating links.
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Stone baby

from www.sciforums.com ... portion of article below:

History

by Dr. Andrew Folley

The patient is a 37-year-old Zairian female who lives in a village of Malongo at the headwaters of the Congo River. She presented with a relatively asymptomatic large abdominal mass. Examination revealed a distended abdomen with a very irregularly contoured mass present consistent with a large fibroid uterus 28-32 weeks size. The patient was having fairly regular periods. She has had eight previous pregnancies with five living children. Recommendation made for exploratory laparotomy through a midline incision with a working diagnosis of uterine leiomyomata.

WARNING: Gross and icky pictures, not work safe.

http://www.obgyn.net/ENGLISH/PUBS/AR...Stone_Baby.htm

Exploration through the midline incision revealed no free fluid present in the abdomen. The uterus and ovaries felt fairly normal to palpation. A large calcified spherical mass was delivered through the incision, enveloped with omental adhesions. At this point diagnosis was thought to be possibly some type of splenic or mesenteric tumor. The diagnosis was finally made when a shoulder was delivered along with this mass. Finally, after the adhesions were removed, a four pound calcified fetus was removed. This appeared to be approximately a 32-week intra-abdominal pregnancy which had died and calcified.

In further questioning the patient, she stated that she had been pregnant about three years ago and everything seemed to be going fine, but "the baby never came out."

.. (continued) ...

Cancer surgery reveals 49-year-old 'fossil' fetus

Published: January 6, 2000
Source: Taiwan News

A 76-year-old woman was found to have carried a 20-gram (0.7 ounce) and 12-centimeter-long lithopaedion for 49 years.

Doctors at the Veterans General Hospital in Taipei have recently discovered a "fossilized" fetus in the Abdomen of a 76-year-old woman, suffering from cervical cancer while operating to remove her womb.

According to a an examination report, the fetus was conceived 49 years ago, making it only the fourth such recorded phenomenon, said Yu Chien-jen, chief of the hospital's gynecology department.

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In each instance of this that I've uncovered, the pregnancies were well advanced before they terminated. It also says something about a lack of education in each instance; how could a woman not think there might be medical complications from it when "the baby never came out?" Stunning!
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Last edited by Ben Lahnger; 01-25-2006 at 10:55 AM. Reason: formatting
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