The Ultrasounds Lied: This Baby Was Born Without a Nose

In the rush of a birth, some things go unnoticed. But for one Alabama woman, her doctors missed a pretty interesting detail when she delivered her baby boy earlier this month. When mom Brandi McGlathery saw her son for the first time — as doctors cut the umbilical cord — she discovered little Eli didn't have a nose.

"I pulled back and said, 'Something's wrong!'" she told AL.com of that shocking moment. "And the doctor said, 'No, he's perfectly fine.'"

Turns out, he is fine. Happy and perfectly healthy, he breathed through his mouth immediately and hasn't seemed affected at all by his complete congenital arhinia, a condition so rare that there are only 37 known cases worldwide. The chances of being born with it are one in 197 million.

Still, the doctor quickly took Eli away for further exams and reviewed every test and ultrasound from her pregnancy to try to find an explanation, but none appeared. In fact, McGlathery recalled that she and her husband commented on Eli's cute nose in a 3D ultrasound when she was still pregnant. Turns out, the imaging shows bone, not tissue.

Another intriguing but inconclusive factor from her pregnancy was that, at around 17 weeks, she said she lost 10 pounds in eight days due to severe nausea and was prescribed medication to help her gain the weight back.

Eli — who was also born without a nasal cavity or olfactory system — was quickly transported to USA Children's and Women's Hospital in Mobile, AL, where he had a tracheotomy at 5 days old. Although he doesn't make noises when he cries, he does still sneeze. The infant has countless surgeries ahead, but his parents, who have set up a GoFundMe account, plan to wait on facial reconstruction until he's older. For now, their focus is on keeping their newborn happy.

"We're going to do our best to make sure he's happy," McGlathery said. "The rest of him is so cute, sometimes you don't realize he doesn't have a nose."