In the months leading up to Christmas in 2024, Kayleigh Tilley traveled to several destinations around the world, including Turkey and Amsterdam. She even went white water rafting and zip lining. Just a couple of weeks before Christmas, she went out dancing with her coworkers.
She had no reason to suspect that she was pregnant: no weight gain, no morning sickness, no missed periods. But when she eventually arrived at the hospital on Christmas Day, medical staff told her she was eight months pregnant and going into labor.
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She didn’t experience any symptoms throughout her eight months of pregnancy.
Kayleigh told The Mirror that her periods had always been irregular, but she thought she was continuing to get them. Throughout 2024, she was enjoying her life, spending time with her friends, traveling to different countries, and getting to know her boyfriend, Nick Jerrom, whom she met in December 2023. She didn’t experience any unusual symptoms. “I was enjoying myself so much as well,” she said on This Morning. “I just carried on doing it.”
About two weeks before Christmas, Kayleigh, 24, started feeling a bit “unwell.” She chalked her discomfort up to indigestion. However, by Christmas, she knew that something more serious was happening. She woke up in extreme pain and realized she was bleeding. At first, she thought she had started her period, but the pain was worse than menstrual cramps, and the bleeding continued to get heavier, she told The Mirror.
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After being rushed to the hospital, she found out she was actually pregnant.
In the hospital’s emergency room, Kayleigh had different tests done, including an ultrasound. Eventually, medical staff told her that “there’s a baby in there” and “they’re ready to come now,” Kayleigh said on This Morning.
Her boyfriend had been asked to wait outside. After waiting for 45 minutes, he grew increasingly worried about Kayleigh. When he finally got to see her, she told him that she was in labor.
Understandably, he was confused, as he didn’t even know that his girlfriend was pregnant.
Everyone in her life was shocked.
Kayleigh had contacted her mom when she was on the way to the hospital. When her mom arrived, she was shocked when medical staff told her that her daughter was in the maternity ward. Kayleigh and Nick chose a Christmas-inspired name for their baby girl: Holly.
Holly was born weighing 4 lb. 1 oz., but she was healthy. Kayleigh, however, had preeclampsia, she told The Mirror. Dealing with the shock and the blood transfusions “wasn’t easy,” but Kayleigh described falling in love with her daughter instantly. Additionally, seeing her boyfriend and her mom hold Holly was “magical.”
Eventually, Kayleigh also sent a photo of Holly to her friends, but they thought she had Photoshopped the picture.
Given that she had no idea she was pregnant prior to going into labor, Kayleigh said everything was “all such a blur” on This Morning. “I fell in love with her instantly but I was in so much shock,” she said.
What Kayleigh experienced is called a cryptic pregnancy.
When a person is pregnant but doesn’t realize it, it’s referred to as a cryptic pregnancy. Cryptic pregnancies are not common, but also not as rare as people might think. Per Cleveland Clinic and WebMd, one in 2,500 women don’t know they’re pregnant until delivery.
There are several reasons why this might happen. Some women don’t experience traditional pregnancy symptoms, while others mistake their pregnancy symptoms for something else. Women with unpredictable, irregular periods might not realize they’ve missed periods due to implantation bleeding or abnormal pregnancy bleeding that could mimic irregular menstrual bleeding.
