'Special' baby grew outside womb

Lisa Pittman with her miracle baby Millie-An

A baby girl has survived and been delivered by emergency Caesarean after growing in her mother's abdomen.

Doctors at Lister Hospital in Stevenage only realised Millie-An Pittman was in the wrong place when her mother Lisa was admitted for a caesarian operation.

The 27-year-old, from Letchworth in Hertfordshire, had been told she would find it hard to have children.

Baby Millie-An, whose name is a play on the words "one in a million", was delivered weighing 8lb 7oz.

Despite repeated scans during pregnancy, Millie-An's position beneath her mother's stomach was never noticed.

In so many ways Millie-An is a very special baby indeed and it's great to hear that she and Lisa are doing so well Douglas Salveson, gynaecologist

Ms Pittman, who lost 12 pints of blood and needed emergency surgery after the birth, including a bowel operation, said it was only after surgery that the truth became clear.

"I only fully realised what had happened when I came round in intensive care. I had a lot to take in because I had a hysterectomy as well," she said.

"I didn't meet my daughter until three days after she was born because I was very poorly, but when I saw her I was just overwhelmed and I went into mummy mode."

Millie-An Pittman weighed 8lb 7oz at birth

"I'm just happy to be alive and I'm in love with my daughter. I don't feel as though I've lost anything, I've just gained.

"She is my one in a million and that's why I called her Mille-An."

Consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Douglas Salvesen said Lisa's case was "incredibly rare".

"The odds against one going undetected, reaching full term and for the baby to be delivered and the mother to survive are literally huge," he said.

"In so many ways Millie-An is a very special baby indeed and it's great to hear that she and Lisa are doing so well."