IS THAT POSSIBLE?

A baby in South Africa was born after growing in the liver instead of the uterus. Huh?

A healthy baby has been born after developing in its mother's liver instead of in the womb.

Reports from South Africa say Nhlahla, whose name means "luck" in Zulu, is only the fourth baby ever to survive such a pregnancy.

In all, there have only been 14 documented cases of a child developing in this way.

And how exactly does something like this happen? Well,

When an egg is fertilised, it normally travels down the fallopian tube to the womb, where it implants and grows.

But sometimes, the embryo implants in the fallopian tube, a standard ectopic pregnancy.

In some cases - around one in 100,000 pregnancies - it falls out of the fallopian tube and can implant anywhere in the abdomen.

In extremely rare cases, such as this one, the embryo attaches itself to the liver, a very rich source of blood.

The baby is protected because it is within the placenta - but it does not have the usual protection of the womb - and is at more risk in the abdominal cavity.

Oh.

I'd be interested to know if there are any statistics relating the probability of such types of pregnancies to various aspects of life, whether they be living conditions, diet, public health, etc.

UPDATE: googling the issue, as of 1992 the average rate of ectopic pregnancies in the US was 19 per 1000. But that's including pregnancies that develop in the fallopian tubes, etc.