text: Girl’s arrival on Fernando de Noronha on Saturday came as a surprise to everyone – including the parents 
   
   First baby in 12 years born on remote island where births are banned 
   
   A remote Brazilian island has welcomed its first baby in 12 years after a local woman broke the rule against giving birth there. 
   
   The baby girl born on the Atlantic outpost of Fernando de Noronha on Saturday came as a surprise to everyone – including the parents. 
   
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   “The mother, who does not want to be identified, went into labor at home,” the island’s administration said in a statement carried by O Globo newspaper. “The family says it wasn’t aware of the pregnancy.” 
   
   Tiny Fernando de Noronha – an archipelago famous for its wildlife preserve and with a population of just over 3,000 – doesn’t authorize births because there’s no maternity ward, O Globo reported. 
   
   Expectant mothers are told to travel to the mainland, where the nearest big city is Natal, 227 miles (365km) across the ocean. 
   
   The unidentified mother has another child who was born on the mainland, but told O Globo that this time she “didn’t feel anything” during her pregnancy. 
   
   “On Friday night I had pains and when I went to the bathroom I saw something coming down between my legs. That’s when the child’s father came and picked it up. It was a baby, a girl. I was dumbstruck.” ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Fernando de Noronha has one of the world's best beaches 
   
   A remote Brazilian island with a ban on childbirth is nonetheless celebrating the first baby born there in 12 years. 
   
   Fernando de Noronha island, 370km (230 miles) from the city of Natal, has about 3,000 residents but no maternity wards. 
   
   Expectant mothers are requested to travel to the mainland. 
   
   A woman who does not want to be named had a baby girl on Saturday on the island - she says she was unaware she was pregnant and is "dumbstruck". 
   
   Surprise birth 
   
   The woman is believed to be aged 22. 
   
   "On Friday night I had pains and when I went to the bathroom I saw something coming down between my legs," she was quoted as saying by O Globo website. 
   
   "That's when the child's father came and picked it up. It was a baby, a girl. I was dumbstruck." 
   
   The baby was later taken to the local hospital. 
   
   In a statement, the local administration confirmed the birth. 
   
   "The mother, who does not wish to be identified, went into labour at her home," the statement says, according to O Globo. 
   
   "The family says they were not aware of the pregnancy." 
   
   To celebrate the rare birth, local residents are now helping the family, with some donating clothes for the baby girl, reports say. 
   
   Fernando de Noronha boasts some of the world's best beaches and is famous for its wildlife reserve in Brazil's national maritime park. Sea turtles, dolphins, whales and rare birds are frequently observed there. 
   
   Because of the reserve's vulnerability, strict population controls are in place on the island.
target: – It lies 230 miles off the coast of Brazil, making Fernando de Noronha a fairly isolated island—so much so that women who become pregnant there are told to go to the mainland to give birth. So amidst what the BBC terms a "ban" on childbirth comes a surprise: a baby, the first born on the island in 12 years. The AFP reports the unnamed mother had previously given birth on the mainland, but told O Globo she was unaware of this pregnancy, as she "didn't feel anything." "On Friday night I had pains and when I went to the bathroom I saw something coming down between my legs. That’s when the child’s father came and picked it up. It was a baby, a girl. I was dumbstruck," she says. The BBC reports the baby was taken to the hospital—which has no maternity ward.