Born outside womb after nine months

urga, an Australian baby has baffled doctors after she survived outside of the womb for a full-term pregnancy, a medical phenomenon believed to be the world's first.

Durga Thangarajah was delivered by obstetricians at the Darwin Private Hospital in Australia's northern territory on Thursday after a delicate caesarean operation that lasted for two hours.

Doctors and obstetricians at the hospital, who helped deliver Durga from her mother's right ovary, are baffled at the phenomenon, saying an ovarian pregnancy is one of the rarest variation of ectopic pregnancies and generally have life-threatening complications. They have dubbed Durga a "miracle baby".

The parents, Ravi and Meera Thangarajah, both Sri Lankans, had migrated to Australia over two decades ago.

Because of the high risk, expecting mothers who were examined by hospital in the early stages with an ectopic pregnancy are advised to abort. Meera's case was identified in late stages as earlier examinations were not abnormal.

Obstetrician Andrew Miller said he was stunned when he found the baby squeezed into Meera's right ovary.

He said she was lucky the ovary had not ruptured as the baby grew and stretched the skin. He said the skin was so thin that he could see the baby's facial features through it.

"It could have ruptured at any moment, leaving both mother and baby's lives at risk," the Australian doctor said.

Miller termed it as a medical phenomenon. "This form of pregnancy is rare enough, but to have it go full term is unheard of," he said.

"I have never come across it in any hospital. It truly is a miracle she got a living baby out of it she's extraordinarily lucky," Miller told the Northern Territory News .

Miller said Meera's egg didn't travel down the fallopian tube and into the uterus, instead staying in the ovary for the full term.