Female Soldier Unknowingly Gives Birth at Afghan Base

Female Soldier Unknowingly Gives Birth at Afghan Base

A British team of pediatric specialists is being deployed to Afghanistan to attend to a female gunner who unexpectedly gave birth in an Afghan outpost that was the scene of a bitter battle just days ago.

The soldier reportedly didn't realize she was pregnant until she developed stomach pains two days ago. The baby was born five weeks premature.

She gave birth in Camp Bastion, a sprawling base in Helmand Province where Britain's Prince Harry is assigned as an Apache helicopter pilot.

The camp was the target of a sophisticated attack last week when three teams of insurgents dressed in U.S. Army uniforms breached the defensive perimeter and destroyed several attack jets and killed two Americans.

The camp is getting a different kind of reinforcements this week as a pediatric team from Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital is en route to Afghanistan to tend to the soldier and her premature baby.

The soldier, who has not been publicly identified, was deployed to Afghanistan in March. She is believed to be the first soldier to give birth on the frontline.

A Ministry of Defense spokesperson told ABC News that the mother was a gunner in the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Both she and her baby boy are healthy and in good condition.

Pregnant servicewomen are not allowed to be deployed on operations, the Ministry of Defense told ABC News.

"Usually once we find out about a woman being pregnant, we send her back to the UK on maternity leave, but this time, the baby came too fast," the spokesman said.

Even the mother was taken by surprise, officials said, unaware that she was pregnant.

"Medically, it is possible for a woman not to notice a pregnancy, but it's very, very unusual," Dr. Jack Singer, from Harley Street Pediatric Group in London, told ABC News.

Posted by James Fried on Friday September 21 2012, 4:38 AM EST. Ref: Google. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0