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Coffin Birth, or Postmortem Fetal Extrusion\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Despite how it presents itself, the term coffin birth might be a misnomer for what truly happens during postmortem fetal extrusion. Coffin birth is not truly birth in the most technical sense. Instead, it results from the build-up of gasses within the abdomen of the deceased mother. It forces the uterus, and also the fetus if one is present, from the body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After death, a body will begin to decompose, aided by bacteria in the abdominal cavity. These bacteria are naturally occurring. As they work to decompose the body, the by-product of said decomposition is gas. Meanwhile, soft tissues, organs, and other parts of the body are softening and putrefying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the deceased happens to be a pregnant mother<\/a>, this buildup of gasses causes extreme pressure to be put on the uterus and it can be forced downwards through the body. In rare cases, the uterus will be turned inside out and forced out of the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The sad phenomenon of coffin birth occurs when the inside-out uterus is forced from the body while also containing a fetus. Outwardly, this may appear similar to childbirth, but the mechanisms behind it are totally different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With regular birth, the body prepares by thinning and widening the cervix. In the case of coffin birth, the expulsion is the result of the decomposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Postmortem fetal extrusion was first documented in a medical compendium published in 1896. The compendium, Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine, <\/em>offered multiple examples of coffin birth dating back to 1551. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This first case was particularly ghastly. A woman who had been hanged had been observed to \u201cgive birth\u201d to twins<\/a> while still tied to the gallows.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other examples of the postmortem fetal expulsion phenomenon are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the extremely rare modern examples of coffin birth, the state of the remains often makes it easy to identify when the expulsion has occurred. This is much harder to do with remains that have been skeletonized, like the mother that we mentioned at the beginning of the article. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many examples of mothers being buried with their infant<\/a> children. So the presence of fetal remains with the mother is not conclusive of a coffin birth. The much more likely scenario is that the deceased child was placed on the mother\u2019s chest, in her arms, or beside her before burial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A few cases of ancient coffin birth have been all but confirmed, though. Archaeologists look for the fetal remains to be lined up with the pelvic bones of the mother. This would indicate that the fetus was in the birth canal during or after the death of the mother. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The body of the mother in Italy fits these qualifications and therefore is considered an example of coffin birth in archeology. Archeologists were also interested in the trepanation hole in the woman\u2019s head. A hypothesis was formed that might explain both the trepanation and the coffin birth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trepanation was used to relieve symptoms occurring in the head, such as headaches, migraines, and other illnesses caused by intracranial pressure. One such disorder is called eclampsia, and it causes hypertension during pregnancy. This hypertension could have caused terrible physical pain, requiring doctors to perform the trepanation surgery to relieve the pressure on the woman\u2019s head. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is unlikely that the trepanation itself was the cause of death since there was evidence of some healing around the hole at the time of the skeleton\u2019s discovery. Infection, or simply the eclampsia (which would have not been fixable via trepanation) might have killed the woman about a week later. This would have occurred while she was only two weeks away from reaching full-term in her pregnancy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of these variables combined may be a strangely perfect setup for a postmortem fetal expulsion. The remains of the fetus were found with the legs still positioned as if they were inside of the mother. This further cements the claim that her grave was an example of the extraordinarily rare phenomenon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So while her death was tragic, and quite possibly agonizing for the poor woman at the time, her remains have enlightened scientists on not one, but two extraordinarily rare medical events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRare Case of \u2018Coffin Birth\u2019 Seen in Medieval Grave\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe History of Coffin Birth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Coffin Birth in Archeology\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Mother in Imola, Italy\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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References\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n