Coffin Birth: Rare Postmortem Phenomenon Explained by a Mortician

An explanation of the coffin birth, a rare postmortem phenomenon, is provided by a mortician.

Medieval Coffin Birth

In the medieval town of Imola, Italy, a pregnant woman died and was buried at some point in the 7th or 8th century, as was customary at the period. But two very odd facts were revealed in 2010 when the woman's burial was found. The woman's fetus's bones, which belonged to a cluster that was lying between her legs, seemed to have been born after she had passed away.

Given that the mother's body was found in a supine position within a stone grave, it suggests a deliberate act of burial. Scholars from the Universities of Ferrara and Bologna concluded that the woman's age at the time of her demise would be 25 and 35 years. The fetus she carried, whose identity remains unknown, seemed to have reached the 38th week of gestation-merely a fortnight away from full term.

The archaeological record only sometimes contains instances of this horrifying phenomenon.

Rare Phenomenon Postmortem Fetal Extrusion

According to author and mortician Caitlin Doughty, this event, known scientifically as postmortem fetal extrusion, can occur 48-72 hours following the death of a pregnant woman.

Decomposition-related gas buildup in her belly causes pressure to increase to the point where it exerts such extreme pressure on the uterus that the developing fetus is partially or completely evacuated from the mother's body.

Shortly following the mother's demise, it appeared that the baby's head and upper body had been delivered, leaving the baby's legs still within the mother's body. As outlined by the researchers conducting the study, the interment illustrates a relatively infrequent occurrence known as "coffin birth."

This phenomenon arises when gases accumulate within the deceased body of a pregnant woman, compelling the fetus to exit through the birth canal. Utilizing the preexisting pathway for the fetus, the vaginal canal, the fetus takes this route, thus conferring the semblance that a pregnant corpse has undergone postmortem childbirth.

Is Coffin Birth Still Possible Today?

Due to the elimination of human fluids and the chemicals that corpses are imbued with before burial, coffin birth is rather uncommon and is assumed to be even more so nowadays. Therefore, it is significant when archaeological examples of it are discovered.

Modern embalming techniques were developed in the late 19th century, and they involve pumping chemical preservative and disinfectant compounds (like formaldehyde) into a body to flush out the bacteria that thrive during putrefaction and produce the gases that are the driving force behind the expulsion of the fetus.

Coffin births remain a possibility in diverse scenarios, including cases of homicides, accidental fatalities, and even the unlikely circumstance of incorrect embalming methods being employed. Given its uncommon nature, the expression "coffin birth" has sporadically appeared in medical literature up until the beginning of the twenty-first century.