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40-year-old fetus found inside 82-year-old woman

An 82-year-old Colombian woman sought medical attention, recently, complaining of severe abdominal pains. An x-ray revealed, though, that the woman's pain was caused by a lithopedion. Also called stone babies, lithopedia are fetuses that implant themselves outside of the uterus and are too big to be reabsorbed by the body. Essentially, the fetus then goes through a mummification process and becomes calcified, hence the "stone baby" terminology.

An 82-year-old Colombian woman sought medical attention, recently, complaining of severe abdominal pains. An x-ray revealed, though, that the woman's pain was caused by a lithopedion. Also called stone babies, lithopedia are fetuses that implant themselves outside of the uterus and are too big to be reabsorbed by the body. Essentially, the fetus then goes through a mummification process and becomes calcified, hence the "stone baby" terminology.

However, medical professionals at Tunjuelito Hospital in Bogota, Colombia, discovered that it was in fact a rare lithopedion – or stone baby.

The phenomenon occurs when a baby dies during an abdominal pregnancy but is too large to be reabsorbed by the maternal body, and is instead encased in calcium.

The woman had arrived at the hospital complaining of diarrhoea [sic], on Monday this week, and has now been transferred for surgery.

Shudder. You learn something new every day. [Metro]