A remote Brazilian island welcomed its first baby in 12 years after a local woman broke the rule against giving birth there.
The baby girl born on the Atlantic outpost of Fernando de Noronha on Saturday came as a surprise to everyone – including the parents.
Tiny Fernando de Noronha – an archipelago famous for its wildlife preserve and with a population of just over 3,000 – doesn’t authorise births because there’s no maternity ward, O Globo newspaper reported.
The baby girl born on the Atlantic outpost of Fernando de Noronha (pictured, file photo) on Saturday came as a surprise to everyone – including the parents
Expectant mothers are told to travel to the mainland, where the nearest big city is Natal, 227 miles across the ocean.
But the 22-year-old mother, who has another child who was born on the mainland, told O Globo she was left ‘dumbstruck’ after going into labour.
She said this time she ‘didn’t feel anything’ during her pregnancy.
‘On Friday night I had pains and when I went to the bathroom I saw something coming down between my legs,’ she said,
‘That’s when the child’s father came and picked it up. It was a baby, a girl. I was dumbstruck.
Tiny Fernando de Noronha doesn’t authorise births because there’s no maternity ward
‘I did not know I was pregnant,’ she said, adding that she had taken pregnancy tests that came back negative.
‘The mother, who does not want to be identified, went into labor at home,’ the island’s administration said in a statement to the O Globo.
‘The family says it wasn’t aware of the pregnancy.’
The statement added that the newborn has been transferred to a hospital to receive further care.