Stone baby or lithopedion is an extremely rare medical phenomenon that occurs when fetus dies in abdominal pregnancy (outside the uterus). When the fetus is too large to be absorbed by the body, to protect the mother from the dead tissue and infection, body calcifies the fetus.
It is very common for stone babies to go undetected for decades unless there are any medical complications resulting from it. This rare phenomenon happened to a woman from Mahaboobnagar in Andra Pradesh. She was admitted to a local hospital complaining of intense abdominal pain.
She was examined and after a few tests, she was diagnosed to be bearing a stone baby. The stone baby weighing 2 kg was removed after surgery. She had carried that baby for 30-35 years. Only 300 such cases are known in the recorded medical history.
