A mortician has explained the heartbreaking science behind a ‘coffin birth’ and whether it could actually happen.
The body decomposes after death
The process of body decomposition that comes after death can sometimes result in the strange phenomenon of ‘coffin birth’.
A mortician, who’s known online as Lauren the Mortician, makes content educating her viewers on the scary facts of what happens after death.
Pregnant bodies are specifically soft in the abdomen
The content creator who makes videos to feed people’s morbid curiosity explained that when it comes to pregnant people, the decomposition process is a little different due to the softness of the abdomen and swelling where the fetus is.
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The body ‘expels the fetus’
Explaining the ‘coffin birth’ phenomenon, Lauren said that when ‘a pregnant person dies and their decomposing body actually expels the fetus from the womb postmortem’.
Despite having never come across it herself, Lauren shared that there have actually been a few documents of it happening throughout history.
She explained the phenomenon
In a video on her YouTube channel, Lauren said, “Coffin births are actually one of the most common questions I get asked about, right up there with ‘do bodies sit up in the coffin’?”
“So, what the hell is a coffin birth? I’m so glad you asked.”
Lauren gave a definition for it
She explained that ‘a coffin birth or more formally postmortem fetal extrusion’ happens when ‘a pregnant person dies and the gases from decomposition build up inside of the abdomen’.
“That pressure continues to rise until, in very rare cases, it pushes the fetus out of the uterus and through the vaginal canal,” she added.
This may happen within a couple of days
She said that the ‘coffin birth’ could happen between 48 to 72 hours after death, but only if the body hadn’t been embalmed, autopsied or refrigerated in that time.
In these cases, the fetus is usually already deceased due to the decomposition process.
She explained it in detail
Lauren went into detail on what happens after death, explaining that decomposition starts with autolysis, which is when body cells digest themselves.
Petrification happens after that when gut bacteria releases gases like ‘methane, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide’.
The gas pressure pushes the fetus
She went on to say that ‘the uterus is already enlarged and softened’ for a pregnant body, and when these gases start to puff up the body, the ‘vaginal canal becomes the path of least resistance, and when there’s nowhere else for the pressure to go, it pushes outward’.
There have been a few cases of this
Like Lauren said, there have actually been a few recorded incidents of this throughout history, such as Laci Peterson who was eight months pregnant when she was murdered in 2002.
When she was recovered, her unborn son was a mile away, having been expelled by her body.