Larissa, a 66-year-old woman started experiencing sudden changes in her lower belly. It seemed like it turned bigger out of the blue, but she didn’t really think much of it at first. Why? Because she simply believed it was just a sign of aging, or even stress. Well, she was nearing her seventies already, and she was convinced bodies just change at that age. At times, she blamed it on the bread,as there were days when she would look herself in the mirror and say something along the lines of, “Too much bread again. No wonder this keeps growing.”
Her friends all noticed her belly but they convinced her it could be the stress or even the hormones. Some of them even suggested she should get more sleep.
Larissa herself blamed bloating and her cooking. She knew it wasn’t a big deal and that it would eventually go away by itself. During the nights when she felt her belly getting too heavy, she’d simply say to herself, “Indigestion, that’s all,” and roll over, trying to fall asleep.
However, as the weeks went by she could feel her clothes getting tighter and tighter. What’s more, she even avoided looking herself in the mirror because she didn’t like what she saw. And somehow, as she started realizing her bloating issues won’t just go away, she knew she needed to pay her doctor a visit, but somehow, she was too afraid because she had no idea what he would say.
Finally, on a Tuesday morning, she went to the hospital and asked doctors to run a few routine tests like blood work and ultrasound. The hospital was pretty busy that day, and that make her feel even more nervous than she was when she got there, but then she chatted with the receptionist, joked about her “squeaky knees” and her love of bread, and tried to convince herself to simply calm down.
However, when the doctor came back with the results, something about his face said something could be wrong.
He kept glancing down at the papers, then back at her, like he couldn’t quite find the words. “Ma’am…” he began. “This may sound unusual, but the tests suggest… you are pregnant.”
Larissa’s initial reaction was shock, but just a minute later she started laughing hysterically. “You’re joking, right? Right? Don’t you know I’m 66!?”
The doctor nodded and said, “I know it sounds strange. There are extremely rare cases. But you should see a gynecologist to confirm. Just to be thorough.”
On her way home, Larissa couldn’t stop wondering what this news would mean for her. She had already had three children when she was way younger, and one of them even had children on their own. But who knew. Maybe this was just a miracle and a late-life twist of fate.
She, however, didn’t take her doctor’s advice to schedule an appointment with her gynecologist because she knew all to well what it meant to carry a child. “I’ve done this before,” she said to herself. “When the time comes, I’ll go to the hospital.”
Months passed and her belly grew larger. At this point, everyone knew she was carrying a child.
There were strange looks, especially from family members and neighbors, but Larissa didn’t mind the attention. Wheneevr someone asked her about her belly and whether it was true that she was pregnant at her age, she’d just say something like, “Well, maybe God decided to bless me again.”
Somehow, she felt proud she was doing this at the age of 66. The doctor himself said this was a miracle, so who were her neighbors to say otherwise.
Larissa spent her days knitting socks and clothes for her little bundle of joy, and her children even offered to help her with the baby stuff. At first, they were ashamed of their mother being pregnant at that age, but eventually, they all accepted the idea of welcoming another sibling.
The exam began, and it was routine at first. But then the ultrasound screen lit up. Larissa was overly excited to finally see the familiar shape of a baby. But then, the doctor’s face changed. He took yet another look at the screen and then said, “Mrs. Larissa… that isn’t a baby.”
Her heart jumped. “Then what is it?”
The doctor then explained, “You have a lithopedion. It’s extremely rare. It happens when an ectopic pregnancy calcifies inside your body. Your body protected itself by turning the fetus to stone. This probably happened decades ago, and only now is it causing symptoms.”
For a moment, the room leaned over her. All this time, something had been inside of her without her even realizing it. The weight and the small movements she was sure she sensed were not a baby at all but the lingering left-over effects of something that long ago quietly died out in her body.
She didn’t cry out, didn’t cry at all. She just stood there, taking in the news. It was a sense of relief, of shock, but she couldn’t even think of a word for it. Larissa had thought of a baby, had even considered what to name it, made little socks for it. But then, everything changed. It turns out, her body had been dealing with all this behind the scenes all along.
Then came the surgery. It wasn’t an easy one,but doctors assured her she was in safe hands.
As she awoke, she felt lighter than she had in ages. At that moment she was not sad or overwhelmed, just free. A weight she had never been aware of was lifted off her shoulders.
The following weeks, Larissa couldn’t help but think about everything that had gone on. Think about the little socks, the crib, the names she considered naming her baby. Think about all of that as a way of hope, of dreaming, of loving. But all of that hadn’t been for any of that. None of that. She didn’t feel any of those things. She just felt grateful. Her body had been holding a secret for decades, and now she was free.
She began walking more, noticing she felt light on her feet. Her neighbors certainly noticed the change too. “You look happier,” they would comment to her. Her smile and nod said all she had to say, as she had no need to explain herself. Her story, after all, was hers to keep alone.
She recalled all those weeks she had spent thinking of a reality that did not exist.
Lithopedion—a rare complication of abdominal pregnancy
The National Library of Medicine defines lithopedion as “a rare medical complication in which a fetus dies during an abdominal pregnancy and, unable to be absorbed by the body, calcifies and is gradually turned into stone.” Further, they state that “This process of calcification serves as the body’s way of protecting itself from the dead tissue, preserving the fetus inside the mother’s abdomen for many years, often without any symptoms.”
This phenomenon is so rare that only a few hundred cases have been documented throughout human history.
What’s really remarkable is that, in many cases, the stone baby can stay hidden in the mother’s body for years and even decades without anyone knowing. It might only be discovered well past menopause, or in rare cases, after the mother has passed away.
Some women even go on to have other pregnancies and give birth to healthy babies, completely unaware that the calcium-covered fetal remains are still inside them.
Experts believe that this phenomenon happens in about 1.5 to 1.8 percent of abdominal pregnancies, but far fewer cases are ever actually documented.
An abdominal pregnancy happens when a fertilized egg attaches somewhere outside the uterus. Most ectopic pregnancies occur in the fallopian tubes, but sometimes the embryo can implant on the ovary, the cervix, or even elsewhere in the abdomen.
Ectopic pregnancies make up about 2 percent of all pregnancies, and only a tiny fraction of those, around less than 5 percent, end up in the abdomen. These pregnancies are risky, and the fetus usually doesn’t survive. In very rare cases, though, a baby can be born alive, often much earlier than full term.
Larissa’s story, along with other accounts of women who have gone through this rare phenomenon, is just another reminder of how incredible the human body is. That it can adapt, protect, and sometimes even hide secrets for decades is truly remarkable. These stories show not only the body’s resilience but also the strange, unexpected ways life can surprise us.
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