A 73-year-old woman in Algeria complained of stomach pain, and after an X-ray on her, doctors found a petrified embryo in her uterus. The old woman has been carrying the "child" for 35 years, the embryo has been calcified, weighs 4.5 pounds (about 4 pounds), and the developmental state is a seven-month-old baby.
Fortunately, the old woman's quality of life had not been affected, and her body had not been damaged. When she was treated before, the doctors did not find the unborn child.
Petrification can occur when pregnancy occurs in the abdomen rather than in the womb. If the pregnancy is terminated, usually the embryo does not receive an adequate blood supply and the mother is unable to expel the embryo. The body turns embryos into "stones" through calcification, and the immune system also plays a role in protecting the body from foreign bodies.
Some experts say that tissue calcification can protect the mother from infection, but it also means that "petrified" babies may remain in the abdomen for many years without being detected and have no symptoms.
A 1996 paper reported that there had been only 290 cases of petrified babies in the medical literature.
The earliest case is of a 68-year-old French woman who was examined by an autopsy after her death in 1582 and found a fully developed petrified baby in her abdomen. Her stomach was allegedly swollen, hard and sore all her life, and she carried the petrified baby for 28 years. In 2013, a Colombian woman went to check for pelvic pain and was told the pain came from a 40-year-old petrified baby.
Wuhan Morning Post intern reporter Yuan Jiabei
![The 73-year-old algerian woman found a baby in her belly and had been there for 35 years without knowing it[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)