One minute the doctor tells you have a hernia. Then next, you leave the hospital with a 10-pound baby girl. Surprise! Yet this is exactly what happened to a 44-year-old woman in Michigan.
According to an
article in Huffington Post, Linda Ackley didn't know she was pregnant until she gave birth by cesarean section to her first child earlier this month.
"What an eventfull [sic] weekend," she wrote on her Facebook page. "Mike and I have blessed with a health [sic] baby girl and didn't know I was pregnant until the day she was delivered."
Hang on a minute. How can you not know you're pregnant? As unbelievable as this sounds to many of us who have been there, got the stretch marks to show for it, apparently this new mom's story isn't as rare as it sounds.
One in every 450 pregnant women doesn't realize she's expecting until more than halfway through the gestation period, claims blogger and author Jena Pincott. A further one in 2,500 is "unaware until she goes into labour."
In many cases, like Ackerly, the woman believes herself to be past her childbearing years, or perhaps she doesn't notice fetal movement or a significant change in her shape.
Earlier this year, a nurse from Arizona believed the pain she experienced was due to kidney stones. She reportedly went into labour while sitting in a wheelchair waiting for a doctor.
Have a 'surprise' pregnancy story? Spill it.
Printer-friendly version