Moms usually admit that it’s kind of hard to explain how pregnancy feels to someone who has never been pregnant. It almost feels like having your period, but not. It’s the feeling of being stuffed after a great big meal, but not really. During every stage of pregnancy there’s a new feeling going on in your body. And as the baby is almost ready to be born, there are definitely ways to explain how early labor feels. So when we hear stories about women who had no idea they were pregnant, and then an hour later they pushed out a full-term baby, it seems unbelievable.
How can you have physically, totally, no idea that you’re pregnant? Somehow it happens and there are plenty of women who can attest to it. While the symptoms of being pregnant are well-known and seem obvious, not every woman has the morning sickness, the breast sensitivity, the tightness around the waist, or even the missed periods that have come to be synonymous with pregnancy. The signs manifest differently for everyone.
According to an article on Health magazine, women can write their symptoms off as another issue and the women who have irregular periods may not think a few missed periods mean pregnancy. Some women gain 10 or 15 pounds but don’t have such an obvious bump. While some women may not notice any early fetal movement, a more serious side to this phenomenon is that some women may have underlying psychological reasons for not recognizing pregnancy, like denial.
Read on for the stories of 20 moms who swear they didn’t know they were pregnant until the baby arrived.
Model Baby
Erin Langmaid had no clue she was pregnant until she suddenly gave birth in her bathroom. The Australian model was 23 years old at the time and said she was feeling sick when she rushed to a bathroom in her home. In less than 10 minutes, Langmaid delivered a full-term baby girl, who arrived fast and furiously. Mom and dad named her Isla May and she was born at a healthy 7 lbs., 7 oz.
Those Cramps Were Contractions
High school cheerleading coach Ally Lopfer had a busy day at work and didn’t know she was pregnant until 30 minutes before she delivered her baby, Oliver.
“I woke up the morning of December 21, 2016, feeling absolutely normal, not knowing what I was about to go through," she said. "Just a couple hours later, I started feeling some minor cramping and brushed it off as nothing. It gradually became a little more painful throughout the day so I figured it was that time of the month for me as I had started bleeding a bit, too.”
A Liam Surprise
Melissa Surgecoff thought she was passing a kidney stone, so she went to sit on the toilet. There was no kidney stone, but it turns out she was in labor and actively giving birth to a baby while sitting there. The mom admitted that even after she gave birth, when she looked into the toilet she had no idea what fell out of her. “I thought I basically lost an organ because I didn't know!" she told Today. Luckily, once at the hospital, little Liam was found to be healthy albeit with a slight iron deficiency
A Shocking Shower Birth
Amber Smith, an 18-year-old from Australia, came home from work with a headache and stomach pains, so she tried to relax for the rest of the afternoon. The rest of the night wasn’t so relaxing.
"I had to work in the morning and about 20 minutes into my shower my whole stomach tensed and as I looked down a huge stream of water poured out of me," she recalled. Smith yelled for help from her fiancé and before he knew it, he was delivering his son. Smith said she saw not a single sign that she was pregnant. In fact, she said she still got her regular periods, didn't have any showing or any symptoms. She said she had “just a little weight gain.”
Never Give Up Hope
Carla Collazo struggled with polycystic ovary syndrome since she was a teen, so although she and her partner had been trying to get pregnant for years, Carla had basically given up hope of becoming a mother. At 37 years old and having PCOS, she figured her time had passed. After a day of feeling intense cramps, she visited with her sister-in-law and it was then that her daughter decided to make her debut. Born at 34 weeks, Amoura Rose was born just under 3 pounds. She left the NICU a healthy girl after a five-week stay.
A Menopause Mystery
When Michele Hall was 50, she was told that she officially entered menopause. She was a mom and even a grandmother, so she was fine with that news. But a few months after she was labeled "menopausal," Michelle was giving birth. She had none of the telltale signs of pregnancy and only felt some aches and pains leading up to the birth, which she chalked up as side effects of lupus, which she'd been managing for 10 years. But still, she picked up a pregnancy test and had only two months to prepare for her son on the way, whom Michele and her husband named Grayson.
A Bathtub Birth
A Texas woman thought she was suffering cramps, so she got in the bathtub to soak and relax her body. Not even an hour later, she gave birth to son Jaxson on Mother’s Day weekend.
"I never felt like I had to push, but at a certain point, I felt like my body was pushing, and then he came very quickly after that." Cindy’s boyfriend Chris said they never got to document the pregnancy because there were no signs Jaxson was coming. "There was no sign, there was no kicking. She gained 10 pounds through the whole entire pregnancy. She had her woman time show up every month."
The Perfect Pitch
Brittany Darilek, a softball coach from Texas, gave birth to a 7-pound daughter but had no clue she was even pregnant. She thought she had an upset stomach until she pushed out baby Madelyn Blair. She said she never showed she was expecting or had the other normal signs of it. "I got my menstrual cycle every month," the mother said. "I gained about 15 pounds."
An Epic First Day of Work
Klara Dollan spent nine months totally unaware that she was pregnant. The 22-year-old woke up with intense cramps the morning of her first day at a new job. She couldn’t call in sick, so she took some medicine (her mom, who she had been living with, gave it to her) and took the train and then the bus to the city. Hours later, Klara was in a hospital, cradling her newborn baby girl, completely healthy and carried to term. Klara had given birth by herself in the bathroom of her apartment after being sent home sick from work.
A Speedy Delivery
A woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy, but she didn't even know she was pregnant until she went into labor. Gina Dobrient and Carl Washington from Des Moines, Iowa, welcomed Calvin William Washington Jr. Gina admitted that for months, she thought she was just having back problems — and only realized she was having a baby when her water broke. And then as they headed to the hospital, Gina delivered the 7-pound boy before she could get out of the car!
Surprise: You're a Grandma!
Imagine getting a call from your daughter and she surprises you with the news that she just gave birth to your granddaughter — and no one knew she was pregnant. That’s what happened when Daisy Young, from Scotland, went to the hospital with unexplained stomach cramps. Four hours later, the 21-year-old had a baby boy. Daisy and her mother had spent the day gardening when she got a text from her daughter saying she was in hospital.
"My first thought was she had been in a car accident," said the new grandmother who had last seen her daughter shortly before a national lockdown. "I called and she just said 'I've had a baby.' The grandmother was shocked, to say the least. "I couldn't believe it. My first thought was 'I want to be there, you did it all on your own, I'm so proud of you.'”
Young Officer-in-Training Gets Beautiful Surprise
Beth Martin was 19 years old and training to be a Border Force officer in the UK when she started to feel ill. The college student just chalked her tiredness up to work, school, and her job at a bar. It turns out what she thought was three days of constipation was her baby girl, Maizie, growing behind her ribs. Feeling like she needed to push, Beth spent a day at work in the bathroom and finally called an ambulance when she saw blood. Being a new mom gave Beth the motivation to finish college and start working.
No Pregnancy Symptoms At All
There were no signs of pregnancy for another mom in England, Holly Henton, but she did start to feel intense cramps one day, which made sense because she had been getting her regular periods. It turns out she was overdue when she went into labor and was rushed to the hospital by her mom. Though she said she smoked and drank alcohol and coffee throughout what she learned was a full-term pregnancy, her little boy, Theo, was born healthy via emergency C-section.
One Was Expected But Two Was a Big Surprise
This mom thought she had it all covered. She knew she was pregnant, planned a home birth and was ready to have a little girl. But delivery day made her a mom of two by surprise. “This is the story of my SURPRISE twins. Not like ‘SURPRISE! You’re having twins.’ It was like, ‘SURPRISE! You just had twins!’ Her girls, Ada Maze and Billie June, were born the exact same weight and size, they’re healthy and mom, dad, and big brother couldn’t be happier.
Mom of Seven With a Surprise Baby
A mom of seven from England was another woman who thought she was passing a kidney stone when she felt waves of intense pain. Once at the hospital, the nurse who scanned her abdomen was expecting a ruptured appendix, but instead discovered a "huge" placenta and a full-term baby in the woman's birth canal. Within 20 minutes, the 33-year-old delivered a baby boy named Arthur, weighing a healthy 8 lbs., 7 oz. “It might sound odd, but I’d hate for Arthur to ever think because he was a surprise, he wasn’t wanted — he really was.”
New Mom Faints in Shock Before Delivery
Rhea Martin, was a 24-year-old, hoping that a trip to the hospital would help her back pain, which she believed was just another symptom of her painful periods. But once admitted to the hospital, the saleswoman — who had no idea she was pregnant but had gone from a size 8 to a 10 recently — gave birth to a baby boy. Rhea said goodbye to her boyfriend before being wheeled into the hospital room and was so stunned when medics told her she was actually in labor, she passed out and woke up in a different room, with a midwife telling her to “pull it together for her baby and push.” Son Myles was born healthy.
Mom Gives Birth While on the Toilet
Grace Meachim, 32, also from England, welcomed daughter Sienna Meachim despite taking the pill "religiously" as her husband was on the waiting list for a vasectomy. They couple agreed they would only have three children, but little Sienna had plans to make that four. Grace hadn’t skipped a period and one morning she ran to the toilet and felt a gush. Since she’d had three previous births, she knew what that meant. "I knew then what was happening and I went into shock. All I can remember thinking is, ‘oh my God, is this really happening?’” The couple still has plans for his vasectomy.
A Kitchen Delivery
Throughout her pregnancy Claire Wiseman, 27, of England, was able to slip into her size 10 clothes, continued to have her period, had no real baby bump to speak of, and had even been on birth control pills while with her boyfriend. It wasn't until she was doubled over with what she though were period cramps that her mother asked if she could be pregnant. Claire says she didn't know she was pregnant until she was giving birth to her baby boy, Finlay, on the kitchen floor. Mom and son were both given a clean bill of health.
Ballerina Does Bathroom Birth Alone
In Brazil, 20-year-old ballet dancer Aymee Almeida, found out about her pregnancy two hours before giving birth. She said she began gaining weight when she started eating fast food following a "traumatic break up." At that time, she stopped going to the gym and attributed her weight gain to a lack of physical activity. One day, when she was doing her college exams, she noticed her feet were swollen. When she visited the doctor, she was told the swelling could be linked to her kidneys. A few weeks later, she had intense cramps but she was halfway into the delivery process when she finally realized she was giving birth. Her son was born healthy.
Baby Grows Behind Mom's Ribs … Again
Kelly Yakich, 41, woke up to a burst of pain inside her body, with pressure moving from her back to front. The Michigan woman — who had been on the Depo-Provera contraceptive injection — rushed to the hospital with her husband once she started bleeding. An hour later, she gave birth to a healthy boy named Gunnar. This wasn't the first time that Kelly had been expecting without realizing it. In 2013, she learned she was pregnant just three weeks before giving birth to her first son. Both boys grew behind mom’s ribs, up against her back.