Dakk

April 7, 2004

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CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?

Mexican woman gives herself C-section, doctors report

By LINDSEY TANNER

AP Medical Writer

Last update: 08 April 2004

CHICAGO — A woman in Mexico cut open her own womb with a knife and delivered a healthy baby boy in her rural home when problems developed during labor, doctors report in a medical journal.

The woman and her son, her ninth child, both survived despite an eight-hour car ride to the nearest hospital and a wait of several hours once she got there, said co-author Dr. Rafael Valle, a Northwestern University obstetrician who learned about the case from a colleague.

“She was asked, ‘Why did you do that? Do you know you could have died?’ She said, ‘Yes, but I wanted to save my baby,”‘ Valle said Wednesday. He added: “This is heroic to me.”

The authors of the report said there are other cases of women attempting the same thing, but none they could find in which the mother and child survived.

The woman, 40, lived in a dirt-floor house with no electricity or running water and had previously lost a baby during childbirth, the authors said.

She was alone when she went into labor, and fearing the same thing would happen when it appeared childbirth was not progressing, she decided to perform the crude C-section. She drank three small glasses of hard liquor first to numb the pain, he said.

“Rather than experience fetal death in utero again, she used her skills at slaughtering animals,” the report said. “Apparently, she did not bleed excessively and asked one of her children to call a local nurse for help before she lost consciousness.”

The nurse stitched up the woman’s abdomen with an ordinary needle and thread, and the mother and baby were taken to a hospital in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

The incident happened about two years ago. The report appears in the March issue of the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, along with photographs of the woman’s incision.

Second entry for today

Reverend Patrick

April 8, 2004

I heard about that! Took three shots of alcohol and took the knife to herself. Brave brave woman. Though, I don’t think many other people are that crazy to attempt something that crazy. ~Patrick

Yeh, I read that. I wouldn’t have the nerve to do that to myself.

WOW. That’s like the hiker who got trapped and amputated his own arm and then hiked another two miles to safety. People like this are just… wow… so amazing. I don’t think I’d ever have it in me to do something like this.

That’s shocking!

lol, I read that today too!

yankeedoodlegirl

oh my god. I used to live down towards Oaxaca Mexico. I’m not surprised in the least. But it is a gory picture. 🙁 Love, Ayla PS thanks for stopping by my diary. I just added three new paragraphs to that entry just a minute after you posted your message. How funny our paths crossed so closely today!

On a more facetious note, this should be kept quieter in the US. Because just think of the back lash to doctors pocketbooks when women start learning how to do it yourself at home even with C sections. Pretty soon ob gyns for delivery will be obsolete.

now THAT is a GREAT mother. You only ever hear about moms stoneing their babies, or drowning them, this lady ENDANGERED HER LIFE TO SAVE HER 9TH BABY!

wow that womans brave! mind u if its for your child, youd do nythin! ryn: it could very well be the same person! it just annoys me that they go leavin nasty notes with no names and yet we havent done nythin to them! i work with kids so im spellin and talkin proper all day, but when i get home or im rushd, i do get lazy n abreviate a lot! mneh

Icklewriter

RYN: Thanks for visiting, and for your note. This is an amazing story! I’m going to look it up now. I can’t imagine what that poor woman suffered, I had a caesarean with full anaesthetic, and that was bad enough. It’s incredible what some people are capable of.

wow, damm that hadda hurt. Sorry bout the saturn remark. there not bad cars except mine looks like crap

ryn:in my dreams i have a corvette but yeah thats just my dreams!!

beautifullybroken

Wow. I dont think I could ever do that.

Karalys

Oi!

hairmamaof3

RYN: Thanks for the note. It helps to know someone else feels the same sometimes. 🙂

life of the boys

i do not think i could EVER do that to myself wow wow lol

NaturalMom

THAT is something that I don’t think I could do. Or well. I’m sure in the situation she was in there wasn’t much choice. But that’s SO hard to even imagine doing. And she LIVED man…I tell ya! ~ajaye

Little Blue Star

thats crazy… I dont think I would be able to do that ever to my self…

I can’t believe it! That is dangerous! RYN: Thanks for the information! When I saw pictures of the nursery, I thought about my username. I used to have fish.

Armiel

April 9, 2004

BRAVE??? I mean, I could understand her explanation, but that can also be seen as quite stupid. She could have killed herself and her baby. I’m surprised she’s even still alive; she must have lost a ton of blood on her 8-hour ride. Good gawd! 😛

The Heat Miserette

Whoa.

Tams

RYN: I’m from Oregon and I grew up calling it pop. 🙂 I heard about that on Yahoo – the things parents will do to save their children is amazing. 🙂

kymaera

Oh my GOSH. I wonder if I tried that, if I would pass out from the alcohol, or the blood… *shivers* Ew!

AngelBunny

I couldn’t do it, I just know I couldn’t. I do admire her though xxx

wow

melondrop

Okay having my son naturally with no drugs was painful enough. Doing that … well that is courageous to say the least. ryn. It looks like a bob but instead of the hair going like a mushroom (curling under) it curls up and is a mass of ringlets. I have very curly hair when it is short. When it is long, it is wavy. (it is in the latest in style magazine … a catwalk hair product ad.)

glitter & wings.

wowsers. i can’t imagine doing that.

Hm…an entire day with no entries….big thunderstorm or..perhaps more? 😉

good heavens!! i dont think i could do that, im afraid of being cut by anything, its a very brave if not foolish thing to do, but good for her she survived!

Oooh that’s amazing-not sure I would attempt that. A remarkable women.

Galaga

April 11, 2004

I sincerely hope this is the last child for this mother.

memelou

That is amazing. i don;t know taht I have that kind of courage myself, but then again, I live in a completly different lifestyle than her.