A Joyous Surprise On A Brasilian Island

Joy in Paradise In another odd case of an unaware pregnancy, a 22-year-old woman unexpectedly gave birth to a healthy baby girl in her bathroom earlier this month. But the birth was unexpected for another reason: This was the first birth in 12 years on the woman’s native Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha, located in the Atlantic Ocean, Newsweek reported. The island, the largest in an archipelago 215 miles off the northeastern coast of Brazil, houses a population of around 3,000 people, an ecological sanctuary and a national marine park. Authorities had closed down the local hospital’s maternity ward, arguing that it would be too costly to operate the unit with only 40 births per year. As a result, island authorities require mothers in the seventh month of pregnancy to travel to the mainland to give birth, which the moms say is traumatic. Despite the de facto rule – and that it was unwittingly broken – locals are overjoyed at the news that the island received a new addition to its community, and have prepared clothes and other gifts for the new islander. “For us it is a joy to have a Noronha born on the island, finally after so much time,” a local resident told the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, according to Newsweek. “We are mobilizing to help the family.”