It sounds crazy, but occasionally some women can be pregnant and not even know it.
But this news is insane, even among women who are oblivious to being knocked up: A woman in Chile has been carrying a calcified fetus for 50 or so years.

The woman—who is at least 90, according to the BBC—discovered she was pregnant when she went to a hospital after having a fall and X-rays showed she was carrying a fetus that weighed about 4.5 pounds.

Even crazier, this phenomenon has happened before and has a name: It’s called lithopedion, and it occurs when a fetus dies during pregnancy and becomes calcified.

How is this even possible?
Board-certified ob-gyn Pari Ghodsi, M.D., says lithopedion happens when pregnancy happens in the abdomen instead of the uterus.

Essentially, the sperm meets the egg and fertilizes it but it implants outside of the uterus in a form of ectopic pregnancy.
“Because it is outside of the uterus, it does not have the proper blood supply and therefore, ultimately fails,” she says. “The body cannot expel the pregnancy, and then it eventually calcifies.”

It’s incredibly rare—Ghodsi points out that there are only about 300 cases reported in medical literature, the earliest of which was in 1582.

Ob-gyn Sherry Ross, M.D., a women’s health expert at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, says lithopedion is typically more common in underserved and rural communities with limited access to health-care facilities.

As for how this woman didn’t know what was up, Ross says there could have been a few factors at play: “As hard as it is to believe this could happen, there are women who do not see a doctor regularly, if at all,” she says.

She also points out that, depending on a woman’s body type and how much extra weight she’s carrying, she may not notice any physical body changes or symptoms suggesting something is wrong in her midsection or abdominal area.
When lithopedion does occur, it would be removed surgically “if the risk was appropriate for the patient,” says Ghodsi. (Doctors decided to take a pass on surgery for the patient in Chile due to her age, so she’s actually still carrying around a calcified fetus in her body.)

If it’s not removed, it could cause an intestinal obstruction, pelvic abscess, and complications with future pregnancy and labor.

That is not quite pregnancy, I guess

...

cheekilicious:
Strange things becoming stranger

Honestly, carrying a baby for 9 months and delivering safely is a blessing.

Don't we have doctors on nairaland to educate peeps on this topic?

uberr:

Honestly, carrying a baby for 9 months and delivering safely is a blessing.

yes o...the foetus sef will be having grey hair already

Witches for her village don dey jolly and dance skelewu 4 her head since 50years...nawah o

Hmm op did I hear u say?

cheekilicious:
yes o...the foetus sef will be having grey hair already

Lol

donholy28:
Witches for her village don dey jolly and dance skelewu 4 her head since 50years...nawah o

No be only skelewu, dem dance shoki join

chisos otinbodonbo