Nobody in that delivery room was prepared for what happened next.
A healthy baby boy entered the world — crying, perfect — his tiny fist clenched tightly around the very device meant to keep him from existing. The doctor froze. A nurse gasped. And for a brief, reverent moment, everyone in the room simply stared.
At Hai Phong International Hospital in northern Vietnam, what began as an ordinary birth became something quietly extraordinary. The baby’s mother, who had chosen an intrauterine device (IUD) years earlier to prevent pregnancy, could only watch in astonishment as her newborn held it in his hand. Obstetrician Tran Viet Phuong, who delivered the child, carefully took a photo — not out of spectacle, but because the scene felt almost symbolic: a new life gripping the very boundary it had crossed.