‘Twins kung fu fight in womb’: Chinese woman’s ultrasound video to explain baby body bruises attracts 700 million views, later clarified it was a joke
- The video is an accelerated ultrasound and includes background music similar to an arcade fighting game
- The mother from southern China said she had not expected so many people to share the video, so she deleted the original
A mother in China deleted a video meant as a joke, which purported to explain that her twin babies’ birthmarks were caused by the boys “fighting” in her womb, after it was the talk of the mainland Chinese internet over the weekend, racking up 700 million views on Weibo.
Experts even weighed in to refute online chatter about a fetus fight that never actually happened.
The woman said in the video that when the twins were “fighting” in her womb, she would notice bumps appearing on her belly.
“Therefore, when they were born, there were bruises here and there on their bodies,” she said.
However, the “bruises” could be a type of birthmark called Mongolian spots. While they resemble bruises, Mongolian spots are just skin markings due to excess melanin, said Zhang Guoying, an obstetrician from Jiangsu Women and Children Health Hospital, in an interview with Jiangsu TV.
“In most twin pregnancies, each fetus is protected by amniotic vesicles. It is as if they are living in two separate rooms. Plus, with the amniotic fluid in the womb, a fetus would not be hurt by an accidental collision with the other one.
“It is impossible for them to grapple with each other,” she said.
Bu Jun, a doctor from the neonatal department in Shanghai Children’s Medical Centre, said infant bruises are common because capillary vessels are damaged when the baby is squeezed through the mother’s birth canal during labour.
“For these kinds of bruises, normally we do not need to do any special treatment. The blood will be absorbed, and the bruises will disappear,” Bu wrote on the mainland Chinese medical information website chaonei.com.
Regardless, tens of thousands of users left comments after being amused by the video.
One internet user wrote:“Maybe they are fighting for nutrition?”
Another person quipped: “They must have a profound hate for each other! They fought in their mother’s belly, so there will be many more battles between them after birth.”
On Sunday, after deleting the video, the mother told City Express, a mainland news outlet, that she made the twin fighting video “for amusement”.
“I did not expect so many people to share my video,” she was quoted as saying. “Although many people forwarded it, no media outlet verified the video with me.”
