A BABY girl was born with an air rifle pellet in her stomach after her father accidentally shot her mother during her pregnancy.
The bizarre incident took place in Moscow, Russia with local media saying that the dad had been shooting with an air rifle when a pellet ricocheted and penetrated his pregnant wife’s stomach.
The mum, who was in her final month of pregnancy, was rushed to hospital.
Miraculously, scans revealed the pellet – which was just under a centimetre in length and half a centimetre in width – had done no harm to the baby’s vital organs.
Doctors who saw her decided that the safest course of action was to wait until the child was born before attempting to remove the pellet.
Soon after she was born, the pellet was removed from just under her skin in her stomach area.
The surgeons then stitched the baby up and said that both the mother and her baby girl were in good health.
Air rifles can be just as dangerous as firearms, and can cause serious injury or death if they hit a sensitive area, such as the eyes.
Instead of bullets, air rifles shoot pellets propelled by air, which is compressed either by an external lever or more commonly by compressed air.
Some pellets are made from lead.
If lead pellets get trapped in the body and stay there for too long that can trigger lead poisoning – which can be fatal.
In the UK there is one death every year from airgun injury.
In England and Wales, most air weapons of this type do not need a firearm certificate. But you must be over 18 to buy or hire one.
Russia has the same law in place.
The State Budgetary Institution of Healthcare of the Moscow Region said: “At the Moscow Regional Centre for Maternal and Child Health, neonatal surgeons removed a pellet from a pneumatic weapon from the anterior abdominal wall of a newborn baby.
“The neonatal surgery department (headed by Mikhail Georgievich Rekhviashvili, PhD) received a call about transferring a child with a foreign object – a pellet in the anterior abdominal wall.
“The newborn girl was delivered in satisfactory condition.
“Upon palpation of the anterior abdominal wall, doctors discovered a subcutaneous mass.
“Upon investigating the circumstances, it was found that at the 30th week of pregnancy, the child’s father was practising shooting targets with a pneumatic weapon in the backyard.
“In a bizarre accident, the pellet ricocheted and hit the child’s mother in the abdomen.
“The parents immediately sought medical assistance.
“An ultrasound was performed – there was no danger to the life and health of the mother and child and no indications for emergency surgical intervention.
“Therefore, a decision was made for planned delivery at the standard term.
“Neonatal surgeons conducted a comprehensive examination, performed an ultrasound of the abdominal soft tissues, and X-rays, and determined that the pellet was located subcutaneously.”
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The head of the neonatal surgery department, Dr Mikhail Georgievich Rekhviashvili, said: “During the examination, my colleagues and I found that the pellet was superficial and did not damage the child’s internal organs, so there was no threat to the child’s life.”
The statement continued: “After the planned delivery and the baby’s birth, a scheduled surgical treatment was carried out – the pellet from the pneumatic weapon was successfully removed.
“The baby immediately returned to the ward with the mother for joint accommodation after the surgery.
“Once the postoperative wound healed, the happy mother and baby were discharged home in full health.”
