'Pregnant' baby? Doctors Found a Twin Inside This Newborn's Belly

I know the question on everyone’s mind is “How?” and yeah, it’s as wild as it sounds. We’re talking about a baby born with their twin inside them. 

Let’s give you the gist. 

In November 2010, a team of doctors at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong were stunned during what was supposed to be a routine postnatal check-up. A newborn baby girl had something unusual in her abdomen, something no one expected to see.

Turns out, what they discovered wasn’t a tumour or a digestive anomaly. It was two fetuses.

Each of them had developed to about 8 to 10 weeks of gestation. They had tiny arms, legs, spines, rib cages, intestines, and even umbilical cords. In essence, this baby had been born already “pregnant” with her own siblings!

The phenomenon was so rare that only about 200 cases have ever been recorded worldwide. And even among those, this one stood out because it involved twins inside a baby.

READ MORE: 7 surprisingly fun facts about twins you never knew

The condition called fetus-in-fetu

The doctors diagnosed the baby with a condition called fetus-in-fetu (FIF). It’s a rare medical anomaly where a malformed fetus gets trapped inside the body of its twin during pregnancy. Think of it as a parasitic twin; one sibling envelops the other in the womb.

The condition is discovered in childhood or adolescence, usually when a lump is found in the abdomen. But in this case, it was found just days after birth.

According to the medical team, the little girl had likely absorbed her twin siblings while she was still developing inside her mother. 

Yu Kai-man, a medical professional, said, “Since it is impossible for the little girl to have conceived the pregnancy on her own, the fertilisation of the twin fetuses, of course, belongs to her parents, which has gone to the wrong place.” 

The two fetuses were about 4 cm and 5 cm long, and each had four limbs and a spine. They were removed in a successful surgery when the baby was just three weeks old.

Could the baby really have been “pregnant”?

Not quite. The term pregnant makes headlines and draws gasps, but medically, that’s not what happened. The baby didn’t conceive the fetuses; she absorbed them. The mother was originally pregnant with triplets, but the other two embryos ended up inside the dominant fetus.

“It is almost impossible to detect during prenatal screening,” one of the doctors told CNN in 2015. “And we may never know exactly why it happened.”

Other cases like this

As strange as it sounds, fetus-in-fetu has occurred before. In fact, there are documented cases around the world:

• India (1999): A 2-year-old boy had his own twin growing inside him, discovered only after he complained of difficulty breathing, due to his bulging stomach. He carried the parasitic twin for 32 years! Doctors later found that the deformed twin in his stomach had limbs, eyes, hair, and even nails.

• Colombia (2019): A baby girl named Itzmara was born with her parasitic twin inside her abdomen. Doctors safely removed the undeveloped fetus just days after her birth.

• Indonesia (2009): Doctors removed a 1.6 kg fetus from a young boy after he was rushed to the hospital with a swollen stomach.

In all these cases, the “host” child survived and lived a normal life after surgery.

RELATED: A Colombian Woman Gave Birth To A Baby With A Twin Growing Inside Her

Why does fetus-in-fetu happen?

Fetus-in-fetu is still poorly understood, but most scientists agree that it results from abnormal twinning. During very early stages of embryonic development, one twin becomes enveloped by the other, often due to incomplete separation.

Some researchers say it’s a form of conjoined twinning gone wrong. Others argue it’s more like a rare tumour with fetal features.

Either way, the trapped fetus lacks a functioning brain or heart and depends entirely on the host’s body for nutrients. It’s nonviable, but still develops some human features.

What happened to the Hong Kong baby?

The baby girl made a full recovery after her surgery and was discharged from the hospital in stable condition. She’s expected to live a normal, healthy life. The story, however, continues to fascinate doctors, researchers, and everyday people alike.

And yes, in case you’re wondering, it’s not something that runs in families or can be passed on.

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