In a medical marvel that defied staggering odds, 28-year-old Winnie Adong and her newborn have survived one of the rarest and most dangerous pregnancies known to medicine, a full-term abdominal pregnancy, where the baby develops outside the womb.
Dr. Ronnie Omoro, a medical officer at Lacor hospital in Gulu city says "abdominal pregnancies occur in just one in 10,000 to one in 30,000 pregnancies, with fetal survival rates as low as 10% and maternal mortality ranging from 1% to 18%due to hemorrhage and organ damage".
For Adong, a mother of three from Koro Abili, the condition went undiagnosed until 38 weeks, when unrelenting pain led her to St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor.
Initially suspected to have peritonitis(swelling of the lining of the belly or abdomen) doctors were stunned during surgery to discover a fully formed baby in her abdominal cavity, with the placenta attached to her uterus and intestines.
“It was a high-stakes operation, massive blood loss, it was a real risk, but we managed to achieve hemostasis and safely deliver the baby" said said Dr. Derrick Mugulaazi who was part of the surgical team.
Abdominal pregnancies are rarely detected early, and most end in tragedy, Dr. Ronnie Omoro , a medical officer at Lacor, explained, “This is only the second case we’ve seen this year. When both mother and child survive, it’s nothing short of miraculous."
Adong’s journey was fraught with pain—beginning in her fourth month and escalating to unbearable levels by the eighth.
She believed it was going to cost her life.
“I thought I was going to die,” Adong admitted, recalling a previous ectopic pregnancy that required emergency surgery, this time, against all expectations, both she and her baby survived .
After surgery, Adong recovers in the High Dependence Unit, while her newborn is receiving neonatal care.
Her story underscores the critical need for awareness and advanced obstetric care in regions where such rare conditions may go unrecognized.