Newborn baby ‘comes back from the dead’ after being sprinkled with holy water: Uncle sees tiny girl moving in her coffin at Paraguayan wake
- The girl was born prematurely when her mother was only 32 weeks old
A newborn baby appeared to ‘come back to life’ after being sprinkled with holy water at her wake in front of stunned relatives in Paraguay.
The girl was born prematurely when her 21-year-old mother was just 32 weeks old. The young mother was taken to hospital last Friday with breathing problems.
Doctors decided it would be best to deliver her premature baby, as both the mother and her daughter’s lives were in danger due to the expectant mother not getting enough oxygen.
After an emergency caesarean section, her family received the news that the girl had no vital signs and had died. They later collected a death certificate and received a small coffin for a funeral.
The hospital released the baby’s body to father Ignacio Medina Vega, who placed his daughter in a small coffin and organized a modest funeral – but during the wake her uncle saw the baby move her head after being sprinkled with holy water.
The hospital released the baby’s body to father Ignacio Medina Vega (left), who placed his daughter in a small coffin and organized a modest funeral
But during the wake, her uncle saw the baby moving her head after being sprinkled with holy water (photo: the coffin in which the baby lay)
Ignacio (left, next to his daughter’s coffin) told local media: ‘When the uncle arrived to say goodbye to her, he saw that the baby was moving her head and breathing. Then we looked and we could see her heart beating.”
Ignacio told local media: “When the uncle arrived to say goodbye to her, he saw that the baby was moving her head and breathing.”
He added: ‘Then we looked and we could see her heart beating.’
The family immediately returned the baby to the regional hospital of Ciudad del Este in the Paraguayan city of the same name.
Doctors placed the newborn in an incubator in intensive care, where she continues to fight for survival.
The father said: ‘She started crying when a doctor grabbed her. The doctors told us it was a miracle. The serious thing is that we were about to bury her alive.’
It is estimated that the child was in the coffin for more than four hours, with the lid closed for about half of that time.
Following her alleged ‘resurrection’, the baby’s parents have decided to name her Milagros de Jesús – which translates as Miracle of Jesus –, according to local media reports.
The baby girl, who weighs less than 600 grams, is now back in hospital, where doctors have given her a ‘very reserved prognosis’.
Meanwhile, hospital officials are trying to determine why she was declared dead.
Hospital spokesman Federico Schrodel said they have not ruled out the possibility of catalepsy, a condition characterized by a lack of response to external stimuli, loss of consciousness and stiffness of the body.
He added: ‘Because it comes too early, this is something that can happen: the patient has virtually no vital functions left.’