Prague (AFP)
A 117-day brain-dead Czech girl gave birth in August to a healthy girl in Brno, the medical team said on Monday.
"Eliska was born by caesarean section during the 34th week of pregnancy," Roman Gal, an anesthesiologist in chief at Bro University Hospital, the country's second largest city, told a press conference.
Eliska was 42 centimeters tall and weighed 2.13 kilograms. "This is the highest fetal weight and maturity for a baby born to a brain-dead mother according to global data," said Gal.
Eliska's mother Eva Votavova, 27, was diagnosed in 2016 with an arteriovenous malformation in the brain. On April 21, she was found unconscious at home, then pregnant for 16 weeks.
After a major haemorrhage in the brain, "she stopped breathing in the evening and then (...) was declared brain dead," said Gal.
Doctors maintained his organs in function, especially his heart, lungs and kidneys, while monitoring the growth of the fetus.
Throughout the pregnancy, the nurses talked to the fetus, her grandmother read her stories, and a therapist moved her legs to simulate walking, Gal explained.
The artificial life support system was unplugged after birth. Eliska stayed for another two weeks in the hospital and her father took her back to the house where her big brother was waiting. She is currently breastfed by her paternal aunt who has also had a baby.
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