What would you do if you were 40,000 feet in the air on a 5-6 hour flight to and started feeling sharp abdominal pains? What if you didn’t know that you were pregnant and those pangs were contractions? Well Olivia Mounga, a woman from Salt Lake City, experienced just that on a flight to Hawaii. She started having contractions, having never realized she was pregnant. Olivia ended up being lucky because three neonatal nurses and an internal medicine doctor were on the same flight. They helped her prematurely deliver a 29 week-old healthy baby boy who spent a few weeks in NICU before returning home to Salt Lake City. Mounga said she had no clue she was pregnant. Below is more on the story from People:
“I don’t know how a patient gets so lucky as to have three neonatal intensive care nurses onboard the same flight when she is in emergency labor, but that was the situation we were in. The great thing about this was the teamwork,” Mounga said in the release. “Everybody jumped in together and everyone helped out.”
Glenn said a “fairly urgent” emergency call came over the loudspeaker about halfway through the flight, and he was clued into what was going on by a flight attendant.
When he got to Mounga, Bamfield, Beeding and Ho — who are specially trained to treat premature births — were already there.
Because the group didn’t have the usual tools they do in the hospital, Glenn relied on wilderness medical training, and he and the nurses used shoelaces to tie and cut through the baby’s umbilical cord, the release said.
They also made baby warmers out of microwaved bottles, and used an Apple Watch to measure the newborn’s heart rate, keeping him stable for the three hours it took to land.
It’s crazy that Mounga didn’t know she was pregnant. I could understand someone with an irregular cycle. But it seems odd that Mounga never felt the baby kick or flip. I am so happy that I am extremely body-sensitive. I would have been aware of every discomfort my body was feeling. Mounga was very lucky. How serendipitous was it to have a physician and three NICU nurses on the same flight? I am so happy the baby was delivered safely. I thought it was so cute that they used microwaved bottles and an Apple watch to monitor the baby’s heartbeat and respiration. I love the fact that these nurses and the doctor were able to improvise. Most of the team was able to visit the baby and mom a few days after delivery in the hospital. This story just warmed my heart because it not only highlighted the kindness of strangers but how we all benefit from trained medical personnel.
Note by CB: This is not the baby it’s just a cute stock photo baby. Credit: Walaa Khaleel on Unsplash
Wow I’ve read a whole panicked thread on Twitter about women having babies without knowledge of pregnancy. Most weren’t even showing despite being petite in some women. The luck of having three neonatal icu baby nurses AND a doctor is amazing and she needs lottery tickets.
See, I could have sworn I’ve already read this story – or one frighteningly similar to it – not all that long ago, down to the neonatal nurses on board the same flight. Am I losing my mind?
ETA: Posted this and then immediately went to check the link. Nope, not a different woman, just the same story. Whew! Okay, I’m not entirely gone just yet . . . but maybe a nap is in order anyway.
Yea I was really confused too. I coulda swore this was something I already read here with same picture and everything.
There is an ob-gyn who does reaction videos to a show that is about people who didn’t know they were pregnant and she makes everything sound so reasonable. My boobs let me know i was pregnant both times!
Doctor mama Jones I think it’s who you are thinking of and she’s great.
Also with my first, if it wasn’t for my growing belly and ultrasounds I would never have known I was pregnant, I felt absolutely nothing (because of where the placenta was located), and I am hyper body aware.
But with my second, my placenta was in the same place and I still felt some kicks but not a lot. But I was the size of a house, so in that regard I just can’t relate
One of my friends pregnancies had an anterior placement of the placenta, and apparently she felt way less. The mother might have had an irregular period, and maybe enough breakthrough bleeding that it didn’t seem abnormal? So happy that team was there to help!
“I don’t know how a patient gets so lucky as to have three neonatal intensive care nurses onboard the same flight when she is in emergency labor”
Because God was looking out for them, that’s why!
…and then there’s the millions of women throughout the course of history who die in childbirth. Guess god was busy those times.
God was on holiday, I guess, during the Holocaust and the genocides in Rwanda, Armenia, etc.
Exactly.
The trained medical professionals on board saved the baby and mom was simply lucky as hell. People don’t realize how offensive it is to inject God into every situation like that.
Yep, it was God. Not the well trained health care professionals.
Sigjh
There are a lot of doctors and nurses in the world, I would assume the odds of having one or more on any flight is pretty good.
Hahaha. I always love the picking and choosing that God does….
So when you stop getting your monthly dues, is that not a reason to get a check up?
Some of us have nowhere near “monthly” periods.
Some people have irregular cycles, and some continue to bleed throughout. So… nope.
I had a friend who didn’t know she was pregnant until her fifth month because she was still having a period every month. I think she went in for her regular checkup and the doctor felt something and did an ultrasound and “Surprise!”.
There’s also birth control out there which reduces the number of periods a woman gets. She could have been on that, not realized her birth control failed— I know a few people who had surprise babies while on BC.
What a rude rhetorical question that is not wanting an answer, but here we go:
Trying to make other woman look stupid, ignorant or lazy because they are a human that does not meet your standards is a really sucky quality. I’ll take my irregular periods over being this kind of person any day of the week.
oh sweet summer child…. What is this “monthly” due you speak of? Do you mean the quarterly flow or the “Surprise! We’re here!” cycle?
It is entirely possible to be pregnant and still get monthly periods. It’s rare, but it does happen.
It must be daunting to have an entire unexpected human to take care of when you thought you were just taking a trip! But great work by everyone. Also, that’s a really adorable baby.
That baby is so freaking cute, I just started laughing when I saw his little face.
Just saw it’s not the baby from this story, but man, what a little squish nonetheless!
Lol
He IS!!! I thought that was a stock image! What a cutey!
The baby in this photo is no newborn!
My mother would still get full periods for the first few months during some of her pregnancies. She had one miscarriage and five full-term babies. With her first baby, she just thought she had the flu, but she was 4 months along.
My Mom had 4 miscarriages in 4 years before she had me. I remember saying she thought that was it for having any more children (she had 4 kids at the time) She’d even promised my Aunt Lucille she’d name her next girl after her! (She DID give me Lucille as a middle name)
What a small world! I’m also Baby No. 5 and my middle name is also Lucille after my dad’s mom. Her name was actually Nilsena, but it got anglicized to Lucille after she emigrated to the US.
I have three older sisters, and my grandmother kept gently hinting that she would like one of us to be named after her. My mom held out because in the 60s it was just an old-fashioned name — not hip and retro. But with Daughter No. 4 she ran out of excuses. I used to think it was too old-fashioned when I was a kid, until I decided in my teens that if it was cool enough to be the name of BB King’s guitar, it was cool enough for me.
Thanks for the clarification on the photo. One of my friends is a neonatologist and she gave me a tour of the NICU at her hospital – those babies are TEENY. Mazal Tov to everyone involved.
Remember Peggy season 1 Mad Men?
I was born in a car on a highway prematurely, so I know the kid will have a great story for his/her CV! 🙂
I always thought Peggy was in deliberate denial. They made a big deal about her putting on weight, so it wasn’t one of those “she’s not even showing” scenarios.
Always thought we would see that baby/little kid in the last season, but I think they thought that was too predictable and also in those days adoption was very private.
I gotta give Mad Men tons of credit. The last season did not go down predictably.
Aww so happy mom and baby are doing well. I’m 9 weeks along and the constant nausea and gagging is killing me, not knowing until you’re further along would seem like a blessing in disguise for me 😅
Congratulations! Hope you feel better soon!
Thank you so much!
A really good friend of mine had that happen. She was a bigger lady, never missed a period, never felt a kick, so had no reason to believe she was pregnant. She was home alone, went to take a bath, had bad cramps, ended up being a baby. Luckily she is a RN, just not neonatal, so pretty much delivered her baby, did the rest, got out of the tub, lay the baby on the bed, wrapped him up. Her hubby came home after his shift to her sleeping and a baby sleeping next to her, confused does not describe it lol.
What blew all of our minds is how badly they treated her when she and her husband went to the ER to report this. They accused her of neglect, being an alcoholic, a drug addict, mentally ill etc etc. It was a horrifying week until child services finally cleared her of any “wrongdoing” as they called it.
I’m so sorry they treated your friend that way, that’s horrible! You’d think the medical community would be more understanding that sometimes this just does happen.
Did this happen again??? Or just old news? I swear this lady had a baby on a plane before
I was thinking the same think. I think this happened a little while back?
29 weeks! Isn’t it lucky that the baby alive at all even if she gave birth in a hospital?!!
My older son was born at 30 weeks. His lungs were already fully developed.
He just had trouble regulating his body temperature, so had to be in the NICU for 3 weeks.
He came home at 3lbs
Cute baby and I’m happy everyone’s healthy.
But personally I always take these stories with a grain of salt because every publicized one ends with “we weren’t expecting the baby but we are overjoyed!” I would not be overjoyed and I’m skeptical that that is the default response in these narratives.
Of course, ones that end differently won’t make the news, but most anecdotal stories like this that I’ve read end that way too.
Unfortunately society has a vested interest in making sure women aren’t aware of and in tune with their bodies (how dismissive SO MANY doctors are to women’s faces), combined with a lot of misconceptions (propagated by “pregnancy choice” centers) about conception and contraception.
What do you want them to say? “We werent expecting this baby, and frankly we don’t want it. Where can we surrender it?”
Sheesh.
Um, as I said, they’re not going to put that on the news, obviously, as I can see.
This may be news to you but not everyone wants a child.
But anecdotal stories are not on the news and they end that way too almost universally. And yes, if it’s a personal friend or something telling me (which has happened) would not be surprised if they did admit the situation was not their ideal. Why would it be? You’re not prepared at all financially or logistically and physically it’s potentially traumatic.
Reading comprehension, it helps.
Maria, I think you and Lex are in agreement. Unless I’m mistaken, Lex’s point was that when someone is asking and you know you’re going to be quoted on the news, you’re going to give the expected answer, not the possibly truthful one that you weren’t expecting a baby and don’t want this one.
The thing is that someone on the news to say they don’t want their surprise child was neither what I intended nor my main point. Of course nobody is calling the news to say they have an unwanted child. My point is the narrative that occurs with these stories both public and private – which honestly is constructed to imply everyone wants kids in my opinion.
That’s a good point, I don’t have kids but the majority of my friends who do totally had a ‘wow, sh!t just got real, err…..’ moment and for some it lasted longer than others. They had all planned to have kids with their long-term partners. So to have it come out of the blue like that must take some dealing with. For some people it will be a shock but they’re ready to be a parent, in a decent situation to raise the child, etc. but it’s clearly going to be on a spectrum with some really struggling to come to terms with the news and how they will handle this change to their lives. But that’s too complex for a headline and ‘feel-good’ story.
Having said that I totally got emotional about the luck at having these specialists on the flight and the lengths they went to helping this child survive until it could get to specialist hospital unit.
Yes, I am really glad they were there too. Nothing makes me sadder than reading about someone being totally alone giving birth, much less if they were unaware!
Well, that’s a good point. If I suddenly gave birth I would have a flipping heart attack, not be overjoyed. But I actually do see how these things can happen. I have experienced denial when I knew something was wrong, which was how I ended up with a very complicated 7 hour hysterectomy. So, I get it. Our minds are very powerful.
Very much so. There’s a lot of factors here.
In fairness, it’s not necessarily the media’s fault that all you hear are the happy ending stories. If this happens to a woman who really doesn’t want the baby and can’t wait to be rid of it, then she’s clearly never going to agree to be interviewed, no matter how much the media bugs her.
Yes, definitely, that was implied in my comment too (or I tried for it to be, lol).
I have a friend who found out she was pregnant like 4 or 5 months in and they were definitely a little freaked out! Not only were they not planning for a kid, but they only had a couple months to get everything together. Luckily all went smoothly and their daughter is healthy and happy, but yeah. There was an adjustment period! Lol I can’t imagine finding out when the kid arrives!!
I’m glad it went well for them!
And yes…my brain and soul would disintegrate if I gave birth without knowing, lol.
I had a similar thought, Maria. The mom in the pic on the plane looks so happy. Now, for all we know, she is someone who had previously tried desperately to get pregnant and couldn’t, so this surprise was truly a gift. But for starters, not everyone wants kids. And even if it was on your agenda to do so at some point, I would think a surprise baby that arrived on a plane would leave even those wanting a baby looking completely shocked. Her face is so happy and “normal” looking, lots of women who planned their pregnancy don’t look that relaxed after just having given birth.
As a funny aside, when I was 5 months pregnant I had my first gallbladder attack and ended up in the ER in the middle of the night. They moved me to the labor and delivery floor, and they said something about the baby being viable on their own at 22 weeks . I don’t remember what they said, but obviously i was in serious pain and vomiting and as a pregnant woman, they wanted me on the floor that could simultaneously monitor the baby. My only thought in those moments were “the baby can’t come now, we don’t have the crib yet”. Obv if it WAS the baby coming, I didn’t really have a choice in the matter, and also, if she arrived at 22 weeks, she wasn’t leaving the hospital immediately either. All I know is I was in a sheer panic and was in a hospital and KNEW I was pregnant. I can’t imagine by histionics if I was unaware of my condition and was on a plane!
Yes, it’s stressful enough even when planned! LOL
Our society doesn’t give room for these women to say “Holy hell! I just got an unexpected human & my body is now healing from an event I did not expect! What the hell am I going to do?! Anyone got diapers, crib, baby bath, bottles?”
If they said anything but a smile, they would get skewered & potentially their new children taken away. Women who give birth unexpectedly have to go through the traumatic event and then the public scrutiny, which is so evil & odd, especially to do to a brand new mother.
I think anyone with common sense can deduce the difference between a woman who is radiantly overjoyed to have a new baby and a woman who is bewildered by it (even if yes, as you say, they have to look happy).
The women I’m referring to fall into the former category, that’s the point of my comment.
Besides the point, I’m going to out myself as a horrible person and venture that there are women who would not be sad if they had an unexpected baby and they weren’t allowed to care for it (the horrible foster/adoption system notwithstanding, this is not an endorsement of it) because if I’m being honest, I might be one. I have never wanted children. Granted, due to that, I’m vigilant about contraception and physical awareness – but those are resources not everyone has.
Your implicit assumption that every woman who has a surprise pregnancy is going to want to keep the child is something I don’t think can be universally applied. Foundling hospitals were invented for a reason.
As someone who is 36 weeks pregnant with twins and waiting very impatiently for them to arrive, this story warmed my heart. I love that there was so much support for this woman who was going through what was definitely a traumatic experience. Nurses especially most of the time are amazing while you’re in labor and the medical staff you deal with the most. And how lucky there was also a doctor on board!
Fellow mom of twins here. Congrats and good luck,. If your spawn are anything like mine, you’re gonna need all the luck you can get when they get older. LOL.
Having been pregnant, I will never, ever be convinced that someone “didn’t know” they were pregnant.
I think in a lot of cases there has to be some level of denial involved.
A tremendous amount of denial. I know y’all know someone, or know someone who knows someone, but there’s a human inside you, and at someone point, YOU KNOW.
I don’t buy it either. Even with irregular periods, there are body changes of some form and I can’t believe that a potential pregnancy doesn’t cross your mind. Did you have intercourse? Then yes it’s possible even if it was only once nine months ago. I can buy that it takes a few extra months to confirm it if you aren’t regular, or if in some cases you still keep getting a period, but it doesn’t last all the way until you are ready to deliver.
There are anomalies in the world, especially when it comes to the human body. Not everyone has to fit into your body’s experiences or be deemed a liar.
A former colleague of mine was in the pill and having regular periods but found she was very tired after work. If she hadn’t known how it felt for her to be pregnant she could’ve gone full term not knowing. She thought the fatigue was weird and went to her doctor. Pregnant!
At 29 weeks, I kind of can. I can’t imagine going to 40 weeks and not knowing, but depending on how active the baby is, at that point she may genuinely not feel the kicks or not recognize for what they are (for the first few weeks I thought my baby’s movements were just gas lol), she may have had some bleeding throughout so she didn’t realize it had been 4 or 5 months since her period. My belly did pop by then and before it popped it was getting thicker and harder – but maybe she didnt have that?
What a gorgeous baby.
So glad mom and baby were safe, and got such outstanding care!
My sister-in-law gave birth to a full-term baby without ever knowing she was pregnant! Crazy as it sounds, it does happen!
I have watched that show “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant” (apparently it is common enough that there is a show!) and it always blew my mind, especially with the smaller women who experienced it. I didn’t really show until my fifth month or so with either pregnancy, but boy, my body and my babies made sure I knew what was up!
I do think that in a few of these cases, the women are not in touch with their bodies and should have considered the possibility more. I saw a few who said they got their periods once during the pregnancy or had a little light bleeding, or who even said they weren’t that fussed about skipping it entirely because they had always been “irregular,” and I thought “but surely the thought would cross your mind?” I mean, you can pick up a test at the pharmacy and do it at at home, easy peasy. IDK.
Sweet story, though. Talk about luck!
I don’t find it hard to believe because common sense isn’t common, and even then you’re talking about “average” canny so a fair number of people will be less than commonly sensible. add to that abysmal sex ed and crippling health care costs in places like the united states, and it’s understandable why people might tend to ignore weird symptoms until it’s an emergency
I would think so too, except for my husband’s niece who didn’t know until her 7th month. She never skipped a period, even in the last month. She was on birth control meds, felt “off” but it wasn’t until she saw what looked like a foot traveling across her abdomen that it dawned on her. She didn’t look any different to family, admittedly she is overweight. She had a healthy, full term, beautiful baby girl!
‘I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant’ was my favorite trash tv watch back when I had cable.
the one where the woman gave birth on the toilet because she just though she was constipated? Dayum!
For several years I worked PT doing 3rd shift ER admissions at a hospital that didn’t have a maternity ward (we were primarily a cardiac facility with a small emergency room). Probably 6 times we had women come in with horrible stomach pain, only to to be completely shocked when they were in labor, and in several instances they were so far along they gave birth in the ambulance being transported to the hospital across the street that did have labor and delivery. Only 1 of those did we believe she knew, or at least suspected, but was in denial as she was 16 and had arrived with her parents. 1 later said she had switched to a different birth control and attributed the weight gain, irregular periods and feeling “off,” to that (and while she came around to being happy, initially she was PO’d at her doctor for changing her birth control),
9 month prego here. My guess is that there’s a connection between the woman not feeling the baby move by 29 weeks and having a fairly premature birth.
I’m very glad for her and the baby that medical help was there and that they’ll both be alright.
Wish me good luck today – final scan at 38 weeks to see if my bebe is still breached. This will determine the method of birth next week (I’m “old” so they won’t let me go past 39 weeks).
I’m having my twins next week too if they don’t come before then! Both have been sitting transverse so I’m scheduled for a csection, but babies have been known to flip right before they’re born. Good luck!
It must really be something else to feel two of them boogieing around in your stomach.
Congratulations Marie, sending all my best to you & the baby!!!
Wow, the luck of having those nurses and doctor on board.
I actually had a dream similar to this last night, just not on a plane, and I am still freaked out!!
That is a 29 week old baby? I was expecting a frail baby, but looks like he/she’s in top shape, thanks to those pros. I would have loved that to happen to me (with a baby to term and not on a flying plane). I mean, being spared the morning sickness, the stress, the worry that comes with a pregnancy, the 9 months wait which is tooooo long for someone impatient as me – I prefer an unplanned pregnancy, and even better: a total surprise giving birth party. I would have 3 to 4 kids like that.
That’s just a stock photo they used for the article.
This is a fear of mine! I’ve always had super irregular periods (PCOS) so missing or light periods wouldn’t ring any alarm bells for me, and I’m on the heavier side so I’ve always thought I probably wouldn’t look pregnant (though my sister showed pretty clearly through all of her pregnancies, soooooooo)… of course the chances of me winding up pregnant without help are pretty low between the PCOS, my age, and birth control. But back when I was younger and still thought having sex meant you WOULD get pregnant, I was really worried about it!
Absolutely the same. The amount of money I wasted on pregnancy tests in my 20s is hilarious to me now.
Same, I am 40 with Pcos. I am a bit overwieght, get water retention around my period where I can gain up to 8 lbs of water weight. My periods are so light I dont use tampons anymore and cannot get a period at all without bc (I am on bc currently). I could totally see me being pregnant for months and not knowing it.
“I am so happy that I am extremely body-sensitive. I would have been aware of every discomfort my body was feeling” what a bizarre humblebrag, haha
but yay! glad they were able to deliver the baby safely
I am a complete cynic because the first thing I thought of when I finished reading the piece was “I wonder when Apple is going to make a commercial based on this? Or start a new commercial line of products called iBaby or something, marketed to new parents who want to monitor their newborn’s REM cycle and heartrate.”
But glad everyone got through safe. I prefer stories like these to that story a while back about some f-ckers who lied about have covid and exposed the doctor and nurses to it while they were doing CPR on the plane.
In the age of Google “experts”, I think we sometimes don’t appreciate just how well trained our medical health professionals are. They are taught to provide emergency medical care even under the worst of circumstances. Also, I never believe these people who claim they didn’t know they were pregnant…
I knew someone who was five months along before she realized she was pregnant. She was opening a retail store and figured the stress was what stopped her already irregular period. She was very thin, but was newly married and had been indulging in celebratory cakes and sweets since they didn’t have a honeymoon and attributed that to her modest weight gain – plus stress eating over the store. Everything had a very reasonable explanation. She had only gained ten pounds and she couldn’t feel the baby move because of where the placenta was.
A mother of one of my kid’s classmates was pregnant for months without knowing she was pregnant too, because she was in her 40s and attributed all of her symptoms to perimenopause! It made sense because the rest of us her age were experiencing sensitive breasts, irregular periods, and increased belly fat too, for pre-menopausal reasons. We all congratulated her, then when she went to the bathroom, everyone joked about how we would rather die than have to go through all that again.
I’m 31 weeks and I have gained 30lbs, gone up 4 cup sizes and my nipples are brown and tender. I understand not feeling the baby because of certain factors or a skipped period but I knew I was pregnant just from my boobs alone. I find it terrifying the total disconnect one would have to have with their bodies to not know. Like what happened to them growing up to create such a strong disassociation? Is this indicative of how we raise girls not to trust themselves or have body autonomy?
Well, in the Bible Belt and other places, they bring out trays of half-eaten cookies or crushed cherries and tell girls “this is how you’ll appear to a man if you have premarital sex” so I would say, yes, it is indicative.
I get not knowing your pregnant. Especially in the USA when even a checkup can be thousands of dollars. Tbh, this woman saved a ton of money not giving birth in hospital!
Even with no insurance a basic checkup is not “thousands of dollars”.
You’re right, it’s not thousands of dollars, but physicals are around $200 which is quite a lot if you’re uninsured and have a low income.
Prenatal visits without insurance can be anywhere from $90 to $500. Tests can be even more.
Her baby will probably be hospitalized for a while so she’s still going to have a large hospital bill.
I am still amazed by women who are unaware of their pregnancies, particularly those in the third trimester. When I became pregnant, I knew it from the nausea, fatigue, sciatica and my baby kicking me. Fun times.
My second delivery was unmedicated because he came early and the delivery only last two hours start to finish. The speed and unexpectedness of it was traumatic. I can’t imagine all of the emotions around delivering a baby without any mental or emotional preparation. I feel for any woman who has experienced that and am very happy for this mom and baby they were so well cared for.
I knew I was pregnant like a week after it happened, before I’d even missed a period. My boobs hurt and I was exhausted, different from just PMS. I’m glad everything turned out okay, but I am still baffled by women who say they didn’t know. Trying not to judge those who say they didn’t know.
Same here. There are just so many changes that occur to the body during pregnancy. The stomach hardens, you can feel them tumble, etc. I’m trying not to judge, but based on my experience (and I realize this is just mine), it would be damn near impossible not to know.
I knew the night it happened I was pregnant. I woke up the next morning knowing I was pregnant, it was the first thought in my mind. Three weeks later my doctor confirmed it, but I didn’t need a test to know. I doubt anyone will believe me, before now I only ever told my partner and child that I knew when it happened, but I knew unequivocally that I was pregnant.
I am so happy there were qualified medical professionals to assist her on the plane and the birth went well.
Side note – I read this story at the beginning of May and I remembered she had a different name. Her name is not Olivia Mouna. Her name is Lavinia “Lavi” Mounga. (It says it in the linked People article as well).
It would be interesting to see the statistics on the income status of women who do not know they are pregnant right up until delivery. If the statics show it occurs with equal frequency in all income brackets then I would say it’s something to research further, but if we find it’s the opposite, and mainly women in lower income brackets, we need to consider if it was due to a lack of access to health care, insurance, contraception, or general education about our bodies. It could also be a measure of denial and shame. When I was in the hospital with my second child, a 19 year old came in and delivered her baby within 15 minutes. She found out she was pregnant at 6 months when her stomach expanded and her mother told her to go to the hospital. Prior to the confirmation she thought nothing of the missed periods and weight gain and was partying hard and drinking ‘coolers’ as she called the vodka mix drinks. The day of delivery she felt the pains and it did not click that she was in labour, she thought it was bad ‘gas’ and sat in a hot tub of water. Then went to the first doctor she could find who sent her immediately to the hospital. She had no pre natal care or insurance.
A quick search led me to an article in The Guardian about this. Apparently it is called a “cryptic pregnancy” and occurs in about 1 out of every 2500 pregnancies.
That is an adorable bébé.🙂
I adopted a baby from a woman who wasn’t aware she was pregnant. Before that, I always laughed at those “tales” and thought the women might be in denial. Several of my friends puked their guts out while they were pregnant and looked VERY pregnant after a certain point. But this lovely lady only noticed that she gained a bit of weight and therefore changed her diet and ate healthier. She did feel the kicks a bit and thought she had gas, haha. She had been pregnant before and had a grown daughter, so she was not a teenager and knew what a pregnancy felt like. I saw pictures of her a few days before the birth and you could see NOTHING. She wasn’t overweight either. Sometimes, it just happens…
I realize that this may get some hostility but in my personal opinion I find it extremely difficult to believe stories of women having sex (probably unprotected), sore breasts, noticeable weight gain, baby movement, missed periods, etc and “having no idea.”
If underinsured, there are low income and community clinics, Medicaid/medicare . . . Even the dollar store sells pregnancy tests. If people can afford to travel, they can probably afford to get a Dr exam or pregnancy test.
But obviously I’m happy that I worked out for her and she was very very fortunate.
My friend, 45 at the time, had already had 6 kids, had this happen.
She went full term and went to the ER because she thought she ate bad Chinese food.
She had her period every month, no morning sickness, no sore breasts, no movement, gained 15 pounds but just thought she was eating too much, she was on BIRTH CONTROL
I quizzed her thoroughly, after 6 kids she obviously knew what being pregnant felt like. She had no indication at all that she was.
But my aren’t you a judgie person. It looks like your accusing this woman of lying because she is poor?? Having unprotected sex.. that she could have gone to a free clinic instead of lying?
You sound racist
It always blows my mind when this happens. Like I get some people don’t feel kicks bc if an anterior placenta, some people don’t miss their periods or they have irregular periods, or they don’t get morning sickness (I didn’t), or they don’t show, or don’t gain weight, but when all the stars align to where a woman doesn’t realize she’s pregnant…and then she ends up having a fast birth, it’s just mind boggling.