Story of baby carried for 27 years unfolds

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Tuminah's lips are parted, her eyes tightly closed as she lies on a bed at Soetomo Hospital, Surabaya.

"She does not want to talk. Probably she is scared to talk to journalists," said Taslam, her husband.

Since a team of 15 doctors operated on her on Tuesday to remove the dead but fully developed baby she has carried for 27 years, the frail 54 year old -- a resident of Bojonegoro, west of Surabaya -- has no doubt been feeling like a freak of nature.

Taslam remains by her side, he notices everything: her swollen right hand from the intravenous drip needle, the movement of her mouth, the way she shakes her head.

"Do you feel itchy? Let me help," the 62-year-old man says as he lightly rubs the back of his wife's head.

In medical terms, the phenomenon of a baby developing outside the womb is called lithopedion pregnancy, or advanced abdomen pregnancy. Only 100 cases of this have been recorded and Tuminah's case may be a world record as she carried the baby for so many years.

"Earlier, a similar case was reported in Sao Paulo, Brazil, but the woman only carried the baby for 18 years," said Soetomo Hospital spokesman Urip Murtedjo.

He said the Brazilian baby was 25 centimeters long and weighed 1.8 kilograms, while Tuminah's baby was 47.5 centimeters long and weighed 1.6 kilograms.

Doctor Triyono, a radiologist at the hospital, said the organs of the male baby were fully developed as were its limbs. The hospital plans to send the petrified baby to the U.S. for forensic studies.

Taslam said the couple already had three children.

"I expected the baby to be our last child," he said.

The farmer had regularly taken his wife to the local community health center and given her herbal tonics to drink. But early in the ninth month, Tuminah complained of stomach pains.

"I brought her to a shaman and then to Bojonegoro Hospital. The hospital said the baby had died and suggested that my wife undergo surgery to retrieve the fetus from her body," said Taslam.

Tuminah was so scared by the prospect she ran away from the hospital. Four days later, she again experienced cramps and noticed clotted blood when she went to the toilet. In the days after, her uterus began to shrink and her stomach was flatter.

"I thought my wife had suffered a miscarriage and I left it to God," said Taslam.

For 27 years, Tuminah felt nothing unusual, but in May this year, she felt a sharp pain on her right side.

Weeks later, she could feel a hard lump where the pain was. Taslam brought his wife to the hospital and the baby was discovered.

Tuminah is in good health though she has a urinary infection. Her husband, meanwhile, seems to have taken the publicity in stride.

"The baby is my son. After he is taken to the U.S. for research, I want a proper burial for him," Taslam said.