Thirty-three-year-old Vi Xian Lan lives in Nanning, China. She grew up as a typical child, but at age four or five, her growth virtually stopped.
Even as an adult, she stood only 93 cm tall and weighed 28 kg. Doctors say Lan has a rare form of dwarfism caused by abnormalities in the pituitary gland.
Because of her abnormality, Lan could never work and was supported first by her parents and then by her brother.
Lan herself, like all women, dreamed of finding a man she loved and starting a family with him. “But who wants a dwarf wife?” she thought, crying at night.
But in 2016, Lan unexpectedly met a man named Li Tan through social media. They initially struck up a friendship, then developed a close friendship, and eventually decided to get married. Tan wasn’t concerned about Lan’s height, but they found themselves sharing many common interests.
Once they began living as husband and wife, the possibility of having a child arose. For Lan, who was short in stature, pregnancy could be fatal, and even if she carried the fetus to term, the child could also be born a dwarf. Doctors warned her about this, too.
But a year later, Lan suddenly realized she was pregnant. It was completely accidental, and the question of abortion immediately arose, but she decided to go through with it, since “God willed it.” Her entire family, including her husband’s, immediately became concerned about her health and registered Lan with the hospital.
Now, she was closely monitored by specialists for the remaining months before giving birth. If Lan’s life had been in any danger, she would have been immediately advised to terminate the pregnancy. Previously, medical experts had documented several successful births of women with dwarfism, but in all of them, the women were over a meter tall.
But weeks and months passed, and everything was relatively normal. The first ultrasound images showed that the baby had normal body proportions. This further encouraged Lan to carry the baby to term.
Lan’s belly grew, and her husband, Tan, joked that she looked like a pregnant four-year-old. He also lovingly and affectionately called his wife “little princess.” To better provide for her and their child, he began taking on additional work.
In late pregnancy, Lan found it extremely difficult to walk; her belly weighed heavily on her body, and her internal organs were severely compressed by the fetus. Lan was now under almost constant medical supervision. For this purpose, she and her husband rented a room in a hotel near the hospital.
At 37 weeks pregnant, when Lan’s belly had become so enormous that she was having trouble breathing, doctors decided to perform a cesarean section. Outside the hospital, Lan and Tan’s relatives and a host of journalists, who had learned of the dwarf woman’s unique pregnancy, waited for a positive outcome.
The baby was born safely, weighing 2,650 kg and measuring 46 cm, all within normal limits. He was completely healthy, and his mother successfully underwent the surgery.
The story of this unusual family caused a stir in Chinese media and social media. People were worried about them and wished well for the parents and the baby.
