Heralded Arrival

In Cincinnati's Good Samaritan Hospital, Obstetrician Joseph Crotty had trouble believing his ears. He thought he heard a baby's cry issuing from the abdomen of a maternity patient. The doctor listened carefully, finally decided that it was, indeed, a baby's cry. An hour later, still wailing lustily, the infant girl was born (and was followed by an unprotesting twin sister). Dr. Crotty had called in other doctors, and so had witnesses to vouch for his story.

Obstetricians had an explanation for the rare occurrence. An infant who begins to breathe in the womb is in danger of drowning in amniotic fluid. But when the fetal sac breaks and the fluid flows out, the unborn child can get a few lungsful of the air entering the womb through the birth passage. The rhythm of the laboring mother's contracting uterus acts as an artificial respirator.

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