Doctors are calling her a 'miracle baby' - the little girl who was delivered alive and well after growing in her mother's ovary instead of the womb.

For nine months, Meera Thangarajah and her husband Ravi were completely unaware their baby was anything but normal.

It was only during the birth, at just before full term, that midwives realised they were dealing with a medical phenomenon.

Her parents have called the little girl 'Durga' meaning Goddess, because 'she is our little deity', a beaming Mr Thangarajah said today.

British experts say the chances of a baby being carried for so long in this way and both mother and child surviving unharmed are a million to one.



Million to one: Ravi Thangarajah cuddles her miracle baby daughter Durga who grew inside her ovary for almost nine months

Professor James Walker, spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said Mrs Thangarajah was 'very lucky'.



'Not a lot of them will get to term - no more than one in a million and maybe even less than that,' he said.

An ovarian pregnancy is one of the rarest variations of ectopic - or out of the womb - pregnancies, which can have life-threatening consequences for the mother.

'This form of pregnancy is rare enough, but to have it go full term is unheard of,' said obstetrician Andrew Miller who delivered the child by caesarian section in Australia's Northern Territory.

'I have never come across it in any hospital.'



As an overjoyed Mrs Thangarajah, 34, cuddled her special baby in hospital last night, Dr Miller added: 'It truly is a miracle she got a living baby out of it - she's extraordinarily lucky.'



He said he was astonished that, as the child grew, the mother's ovary did not stretch and break which could have caused deadly internal bleeding.

Healthy: The baby has been called Durga meaning Goddess because her parents believe she is 'their little deity', so small were the chances of her survival

Durga was born at 38 weeks, just two weeks earlier than full term, weighing 6lbs 3 oz (2.8kg). Both she and her mother are completely healthy.



The extraordinary birth was the culmination of an apparently normal pregnancy, with the parents and doctors never suspecting that anything had gone wrong.

Mr and Mrs Thangarajah, who emigrated to Australia from India several years ago, drove to the Darwin Private Hospital at 6.30 in the morning to have a planned Caesarean operation for their second child.

There had been no complications during the pregnancy and even regular ultrasound tests had shown nothing unusual.

But as Dr Miller began performing the operation he could not believe his eyes - the baby was squeezed into the right ovary.



The skin was stretched so thin that he could see the baby's hair and facial features through it.

He admitted later it was almost impossible to believe because an ectopic pregnancy, which occurs when a fertilised egg develops outside of the uterus, usually ends in miscarriage.

If it is discovered, doctors bring about a termination because of the threat it can cause to the mother.

But here was a woman who had carried the 'out of womb' child to a full term.

'She was very lucky that the ovary had not ruptured as the baby grew and stretched the skin,' said the obstetrician.



'The ovary could have ruptured at any moment, leaving both mother and baby's lives at risk.

'This is indeed a medical phenomenon.'



Dr Miller explained that Mrs Thangarajah's egg did not travel down the fallopian tube and into the uterus in the normal way, remaining instead in the ovary for the full term.

'Most women whose egg begins to fertilise outside of the womb present themselves to hospital with severe pain and bleeding in the early weeks of their pregnancy and they have no choice but to abort the baby - or risk their own life,' he said.

Yet curiously Mrs Thangarajah had no symptoms apart from the usual morning sickness, discomfort and nausea.



Added to the chances of the rare pregnancy remaining undiscovered was the failure of the ultrasound monitor to show anything unusual, despite the mother-to-be's regular check-ups.

'If we'd detected this in the early stages, she would have been advised to abort,' said Dr Miller.

Mrs Thangarajah was spellbound to hear of her attention-grabbing pregnancy last night.



Fighting back tears of happiness she said: 'I had no idea my pregnancy was abnormal.

'I didn't know anything about it until I woke up after the Caesarean and the doctors told me.

'I'm feeling like the luckiest woman in the world.'



The same words were expressed by her husband.



Mr Thangarajah said: 'Not only do I feel lucky - the doctors have told me I'm one of the luckiest of men at the moment.'



Baby Durga is a little sister for the couple's other daughter, six-year-old Gayatri.

Hospital spokeswoman Robyn Cahill said only 1 in 40,000 fertilisations implant in the ovary and unusual for one of those fetuses not to be born prematurely, before 37 weeks.



'It is extremely rare -- I have never seen a case that progresses until foetal viability,' said Mark Erian, a specialist in high-risk obstetrics at the University of Queensland.

'She was absolutely lucky to have her pregnancy progress.'

Prof Walker said: 'The vast majority of pregnancies like this will end either with the loss of the baby because it cannot survive or with it being removed because there are risks to the mother.

'The chances of survival are very slim. It was not that the woman was at risk all along. It must have implanted in the right place and not caused problems.

'She was very luck that this occurred, allowing her to carry this baby to term. In most cases she would not have died, but the pregnancy would have been lost.'



Ovarian pregnancies are a one in 40,000 occurrence and are usually terminated before 10 weeks.

The Thangarajahs had 'taken a little while to absorb the gravity of the news', Ms Keogh said. 'I think they are just so very grateful for the outcome.'

THE DEADLY TRUTH ABOUT ECTOPIC PREGNANCIES



An ectopic pregnancy happens in the wrong place - and the consequences can be deadly.



The fertilised egg implants outside the womb, often in one of the two fallopian tubes or by attaching to the abdominal wall, and starts to grow.

It is often not diagnosed for several weeks until symptoms develop into a medical emergency that can be life-threatening.

The baby must then be removed surgically, sometimes with the fallopian tube as well, which makes it more difficult to get pregnant again.



The condition kills at least four women every year out of 3,000 sufferers in the UK, usually though massive loss of blood.



Consultant obstetrician Dr Maggie Blott, spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said the Australian case was a rare occurrence.

She said: 'We have seen abdominal pregnancies that have gone to term but an ovarian pregnancy that has gone almost to term is very, very unusual.

'Implanting in the ovary ensured a blood supply for the growing fetus, which would have been supported in the normal way by the placenta.

'But the mother was extremely lucky as the ovary could have burst. If the embryo had implanted in only a slightly different position then it might have been a very different outcome as the consequences can be life-threatening.

'Ectopic pregnancies can be very difficult to spot in advance even in London hospitals which are equipped with the latest scanners.'

Among high-profile sufferers are Sophie, the Duchess of Wessex, and actresses Nicole Kidman and Amanda Redman, who also suffered the loss of ectopic babies.

Cases in the UK are going up from the rate of one in 200 pregnancies found 20 years ago to one in 60 for women in their 30s.

Experts blame the rising age of motherhood and pelvic infection which causes damage to the tubes, making it more difficult for the embryo to reach the womb.

Existing tests for the condition include blood screening and ultrasound but these are not accurate in the early stages of pregnancy, although new tests are being developed.









