In most cases a pregnancy in humans will be just over 9 months or 280 days. During the pregnancy, the baby will develop slowly until it is developed enough to survive as well as grow after leaving the womb. Because all pregnancies are slightly different, the exact length of them tends to vary while still being considered normal. Some, however, are unusual in length. In 1945, for example, Beulah Hunter who was 25 at the time gave birth after a pregnancy lasting 375 days, which is slightly over a year and almost 100 days more than the average human gestational period. The length of the pregnancy was confirmed by examining her pregnancy test and menstrual cycle. Doctors feel that the long pregnancy was because the child developed extremely slowly in the womb when compared to the average child but despite this, Hunter’s daughter, named Penny Diana was healthy and normal at birth.

Although Beulah Hunter had the longest pregnancy on record that produced a living child, in many occasions a woman has not given birth at the right time when the stillborn fetus didn’t dissipate correctly. When this occurs, the pregnancy seems abnormally long but because the child is stillborn, professionals don’t consider these as “true” long pregnancies. Prior to Beulah Hunter’s pregnancy, the longest gestation period that produced a living child was 317 days. Although it is almost 60 days short of Hunter’s pregnancy, it is still considered exceptionally lengthy.