A young woman who has been in a coma for more than seven months gave birth to a healthy baby girl Saturday China's westernmost Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

It was a Cesarean birth and the baby weighed 2,400 grams, slightly underweight but apparently physically sound, said doctors with the No. 1 People's Hospital in Aksu Prefecture, where the baby was born Saturday afternoon.

The baby is fed on infant formula as her 27-year-old mother Sun Xiaohong has no milk, local Xinjiang Daily reported on Monday.

Sun, a textile worker in Aksu, was knocked down by a taxi on April 14. She suffered from a broken leg and brain damages that left her in a prolonged coma. In mid August, doctors found through an ultrasound test that she was already six months pregnant and the fetus was growing well.

For a time experts were concerned over whether the baby was to be born healthy or deformed, as the expectant mother had taken many doses of medicine and received numerous radiation therapies.

Some doctors even recommended an abortion.

But the fetus finally survived, as its father Liu Yuanping insisted the baby should be born.

Liu and Sun have been married for seven years, but reportedly had no plans for a baby since they were not financially prepared.

The couple were apparently unaware of the coming baby when the accident occurred.

Liu expressed thanks on Sunday to all the kind-hearted people in Aksu, who have shown affection, care and concern for the mother and baby and helped foot most of Sun's medical bills. 

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2004)