Most women need the full nine months and then some to reckon with the fact that they’re about to bring a life into the world. But some women don’t get that opportunity. Women who have cryptic or invisible pregnancies don’t even know they’re pregnant at all.
These women may experience typical pregnancy symptoms like nausea, cramping, swollen breasts, and fatigue, but when you don’t think you’re pregnant, these symptoms are easy to dismiss. That was the case for one woman in the UK whose cryptic pregnancy ended in the birth of not one but two babies.
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Lucy Shaw gave birth on July 5.
Lucy Shaw thought she was suffering from a bad stomach flu before she unexpectedly gave birth to twin boys on July 5. She was 30 weeks pregnant. Lucy, 34, woke up with severe stomach pain. But she never thought she was pregnant.
“I woke up in the early hours feeling unwell and thought I had a tummy bug,” she said in a statement, according to the New York Post. “A few hours later I called my mom because by then, I was in a lot of pain.”
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When the emergency phone operator told her to check herself, Lucy could feel a baby's head.
When Lucy’s mother arrived at her home, she could tell immediately that a stomach flu was not her daughter’s issue. She called the ambulance. While she was on the phone with the operator, the person instructed her to see if she could see anything going on with her daughter’s body. Lucy said that was when it dawned on her to check. “I could feel a head,” she said. One of her babies was crowning.
Lucy's mom delivered the first boy.
The operator instructed Lucy to avoid pushing if she could. “I kept trying not to push and was saying they can’t come yet as it’s too soon, but the operator told me I must push if I felt like I needed to,” she explained. Lucy couldn’t wait. Her mom delivered Jacob at 6 a.m., and then when the paramedics arrived they delivered Jaxon at 6:15 a.m. The boys weighed 3 lbs., 9 oz., and 3 lbs., 8 oz., respectively.
Their doctor called the twins 'miracle babies.'
It’s been a journey in the four weeks since the twins were born. They were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit, where they were placed on ventilators. Dr. Lee Abbott, clinical lead of neonatology at the University Hospitals of North Midlands, called the twins, “miracle babies.”
“On arrival, they were so cold that they had unrecordable body temperatures, they both had blood acid levels that were not consistent with survival and they also had low blood pressures,” Abbott said.
But the twins pulled through and are expected to go home with minimal special care. Lucy is looking forward to that day. “I am looking forward to getting them home when they are ready. We really can’t wait,” she said.
