Giving birth to a new life is always a miracle, but for those who were told they would never be able to physically have a child of their own, getting pregnant and giving birth to a healthy baby is especially miraculous.
In the late ’80s, a 15-year-old was told that she would never be able to get pregnant or give birth to a baby because she was missing a crucial part of the birth canal that all women need to conceive and deliver a baby. Miraculously, however, the impossible happened, thanks to a jealous ex-boyfriend.
A Trip to The Hospital
In 1988, a 15-year-old girl from Lesotho, a small country in southern Africa, went to the hospital. Once doctors met with her, she explained that her stomach, which was swollen, was in intense pain. According to the girl, the pain was sharp and intense but came and went in cycles.
Obvious Signs of Pregnancy
When the time between the sharp pains started to decrease, she thought it was time to finally see a doctor in order to figure out what was going on. From the doctor’s perspective, it appeared that the teenager was pregnant and had gone into labor. However, the girl insisted that it wasn’t possible.
The Proof
The girl, whose identity has not been revealed to the public, explained that she couldn’t possibly be pregnant because she didn’t have a vagina and couldn’t have sex. To check, the doctors at the hospital examined her and found she really didn’t have a vagina.
A Rare Condition
“Inspection of the vulva showed no vagina, only a shallow skin dimple was present below the external urethral meatus and between the labia minora,” authors wrote in a report about the rare case, which was published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
An Impossible Pregnancy
According to the doctors on the case, the 15-year-old had been born with a birth defect called Mullerian agenesis or Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome. It meant that the girl had been born without a vagina. Despite this, doctors still believed she somehow had conceived a child.
An Abdominal Exam
The doctors performed an abdominal exam and they were sure that she had somehow become pregnant. According to the doctors, they could feel the baby was in a head-down position and determined that the intermittent abdominal pains were actually contractions.
Signs of Labor
“The uterus was contracting regularly and the fetal heart was heard,” the case report explained. While doctors had no idea how the 15-year-old could have possibly gotten pregnant, they were sure that the baby was ready to be born even though there was no vagina for the baby to be born through.
The Only Way Forward
If they didn’t act quickly, the situation would have become extremely dangerous for both the mother and the baby, so doctors explained that they would have to perform an emergency c-section on the teenager. It was the only way they could possibly get the baby out safely as a natural birth was literally not an option.
A Healthy Baby Boy
“An emergency lower segment cesarean section was performed under spinal anesthesia,” the case report explained. Through the c-section, doctors managed to deliver a live baby boy. At the time of his birth, the baby weighed just over six pounds and was surprisingly healthy.
Defying Reason
While finishing up the birth and closing up the abdominal wall, the doctors couldn’t help but wonder how the miraculous baby had been conceived. After letting the new mother recuperate from the surprise birth, nurses interviewed her to try and get some answers.
The Girl’s Sexual History
During the interview, the girl explained that she had attempted to have vaginal intercourse with boyfriends in the past. However, without a vagina, it obviously never worked. As a result, she and a boyfriend started experimenting with oral sex as an alternative.
Another Missing Piece
She knew there was no risk of pregnancy and wasn’t even sure she could even get pregnant. Not only did she not have a vagina, but she had never had a period either. However, in the months before going to the hospital, she did wonder why her stomach was getting bigger.
Total Disbelief
According to the 15-year-old, she also remembered having several episodes of lower abdominal pain during the previous year. Several friends and family members suggested that she was probably pregnant, and she even wondered herself if she could possibly be pregnant as her stomach continued to increase in size.
278 Days Earlier
Yet as much as it appeared she was pregnant, she knew it was literally impossible. However, the staff at the hospital started to do a bit of digging. They discovered that the new mother had actually been admitted to the hospital 278 days before…
The Time of Conception
The average pregnancy lasts about 280 days, so they knew that the baby had to have been conceived right around the time that the girl had been admitted to the hospital. And when they looked into what the girl had been in the hospital for, it suddenly made a little bit more sense.
The Stabbing
At the time, the girl had been rushed to the hospital with stab wounds to the abdomen. According to the new mom, she had been practicing oral sex with her new boyfriend when she was caught in the act by a jealous ex-boyfriend. After realizing what he walked in on, the young man grabbed a knife and started attacking the girl’s new boyfriend.
The Stomach Injury
During the knife fight, the girl ended up getting cut in the hand and stabbed once in the upper abdomen. After being rushed to the hospital, doctors performed surgery on the girl and repaired two holes that they found in her stomach. “The stomach was noted empty at the time of surgery and no gastric contents were seen in the abdomen,” the authors of the case report said.
The Only Possibility
“Nevertheless, the abdominal cavity was lavaged with normal saline before closure. The condition of the patient improved rapidly following routine postoperative care and she was discharged home after 10 days.” Doctors determined that the sperm in her stomach and gastrointestinal tract made their way to the girl’s reproductive organs after her intestinal injuries.
A Perfect Storm
Normally, sperm doesn’t last long in the stomach because of the stomach acid. Yet, since the girl’s stomach was empty, there wasn’t much stomach acid present at the time and some sperm survived long enough until escaping the stomach. In order for the girl to get pregnant, doctors also explained that the girl must have only had one or two menstrual cycles by that point.
A Plausible Miracle
If there were more, it would have made it impossible to get pregnant and she would eventually need surgery to drain the menstrual blood from her body. “Here’s an unbelievable set of coincidences,” Dr. Richard Paulson, head of the University of Southern California Fertility Program in Los Angeles, told ABC News. “But it’s totally plausible … Sperm are pretty hardy.”
