Abdominal pregnancies are rare – very rare. Up To Date – a medical resource, says it occurs in 1 in 10,000 births, and in 1.4% of ectopics, which occur about 20 times out of 1000 pregnancies. I haven’t been a part of 10,000 deliveries, but I have now seen 2 abdominal pregnancies in just 3 wks time, crazy.2 wks ago, I thought I had a ruptured ectopic, when the ultrasound actually revealed the baby was outside the tube and in the abdomen. Today, Susan and Imelda asked me to look at an ultrasound. They thought they saw something moving outside the uterus, but weren’t sure. As I looked, I saw the enlarged, empty uterus, the placenta outside the uterus (just like last time) and a moving something also outside the uterus. Putting it all together equals an abdominal pregnancy. She had already lost a lot of blood and continued to bleed into her abdomen, so we took her to surgery to stop the bleeding. In surgery, we found the baby was still partially attached to the fallopian tube, but had worked it’s way out, along with the placenta, which was attached to the omentum. We were able to remove the bleeding placenta and the tube and thankfully mom did very well.
I always feel bad for the baby in these situations because he/she gives up their life for the life of their mother. The pregnancy is what is threatening to take mom’s life by bleeding to death and only in removing the source of bleeding, will mom be okay. The babies are always way too small to survive outside of mom and are either already not living, or don’t survive very long in the course of surgery. Despite their smallness, it is amazing to me how perfect they are. They have arms, legs, eyes, little organs including a beating heart, ribs, and a little umbilical cord attaching them to mom. They are alive and are a little person growing inside of mom. They aren't a blob of nothing, they aren't something to easily cast off and kill because it is convenient they are a life that is precious to God and to their mom and to all who value life. Ps 139: 13-16 "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the dearth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. "