Health & Medicine

Rare, Miraculous Birth: Brain-Dead Hungarian Mother Births Healthy Premature Infant

Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Nov 14, 2013 11:36 PM EST

A 31-year-old brain-dead Hungarian woman gave birth to a healthy premature baby.

Though the mother was decidedly removed from life support shortly following the delivery, many scientists are still in shock of this miracle.

The Associated Press notes that this marks the third time for such a birth to be reported across the globe. 

At just 15 weeks pregnant, the woman suffered from a stroke according to various reports, and was declared brain dead. However, at 27 weeks, doctors were able to perform a cesarean section to safely deliver the baby--weighing in at three pounds and 1.8 ounces.

"In the first two days we struggled to save the mother's life and it was proven... that circulation and functions stopped," said Dr. Bela Fulesdi, president of the University of Debrecen Medical and Health Science Centre, according to the Daily Mail. "On the second day when [other] examinations were carried out, we found the baby was alive and kicking well in its mother's body."

According to the University of Debrecen in eastern Hungary, they've told numerous reporters that the child is healthy and progressing normally. However, the child's birth date and gender have not been disclosed and neither has any information regarding his or her family.

The mother's organs were donated to four recipients that gave birth after her child's.

Other miracle births have also shocked scientists across the globe. The Washington Post notes that at just 5 weeks and 5 days, a woman who was declared brain-dead but kept on life support for three months for the sack of her child, gave birth to her daughter. However, the child did not live past six weeks at 1 pound 13 ounces.

See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone

TagsHealth

More on SCIENCEwr