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. 'It is strange': Brazilian church blockbuster plays to empty cinemas Read more 
 
 “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. "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. 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". I was dumbstruck.”
– 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.