By Nina Golgowski and Matt Roper — Originally published in Mail Online
A ‘stillborn’ baby was found alive in a drawer in a hospital morgue by her distressed mother 12 hours after the girl was declared dead.
Analia Bouter was 26 weeks pregnant when she gave birth to her fifth child prematurely at a hospital in Resistencia, in Argentina’s northern province.
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But after medical staff told her that the infant was born with no vital signs, her distraught parents went home with a death certificate.
Twelve hours later, Mrs Bouter and her husband went to see their baby’s body, which was being kept in a refrigerated drawer at the hospital morgue.
She told Argentina’s Clarin newspaper: “That night, we went to the morgue. We wanted to take a photo of our daughter.
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Miracle from God
“But when a worker opened the drawer, we heard a cry and she was alive.”
She said she “stepped back and fell to my knees’ after she ‘saw her stretching,” the mother added.
“My baby was born at 10:24 am and at 11:05 am was already in the drawer. She spent 12 hours in the freezing cold of that morgue. I saw for myself the ice on her body.”
Mrs Bouter said that her pregnancy was normal until she suddenly went into early labor on April 3.
“At first the doctors said that she was born dead, then said she had died shortly after birth because she was too small to survive.
“I don’t know who is to blame, and I’m not thinking about it at this moment. The joy of knowing she’s alive is covering every other feeling. I’m a Christian, and I believe this was a miracle of God.”
And she said that her daughter is “getting stronger by the minute.”
The parents originally planned to name their daughter Luciana Abigail, but she will now be baptised Luz Milagros, which means Light Miracles.
Meanwhile, the Perrando hospital has suspended the medical staff involved in the birth while they conduct an investigation.
The hospital’s director Jose Luis Meirino said: “At the moment we have no explanation.”
“The baby was attended to by obstetricians, gynaecologists and a neonatologist. They all reached the same conclusion, that this girl was stillborn.”
He said that hypothermia may have caused the baby to go into a type of hibernation, causing her vital signs to vanish completely.
Rafael Sabatinelli, health secretary for Argentina’s Chaco province, promised a full investigation.
He said: “Every member of the team that was involved has some responsibility, so they will have to answer for this.
