A British woman, Gemma Cleghorn, claims she was told six times by doctors that her swollen stomach and missed periods were due to injuries from a car crash. Cleghorn, 25, was rushed to the hospital in May because she thought she was bleeding internally and was shocked to learn that she was actually in labor.
The new mom told the Daily Mail that she was totally unaware that she was pregnant. Five months earlier, Cleghorn's car was totaled by another driver going 70 miles an hour. When she complained to her doctor about a bad back and other aches and pains, all of her ailments were attributed to the car accident. "Even when my periods stopped they said it had been caused by the stress and trauma of the crash," she told the Mail.
So, when Cleghorn was rushed to the hospital in May, she says she assumed it was further aftermath from the accident. Doctors performed a scan and discovered that she was pregnant. “When they told me I was in labour, I went into shock," Cleghorn told The Express. Her surprise was due not only to the constant misdiagnosis of her condition, but also because she was on the pill. "My partner Dave just went white. We couldn’t believe it was happening.”
Her son, Alexander, was born on May 23, and weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces. “It’s a miracle the baby survived the accident and then went unnoticed by all those doctors," she told The Express. "I was worried about all the drugs I had taken, but he’s perfect."
Though Cleghorn's story sounds extraordinary, something that only happens on the TV show, "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant," it's more common than many people think for women to be pregnant without knowing it (called cryptic pregnancy). HuffPost blogger Jena Pincott, author of "Do Chocolate Lovers Have Sweeter Babies?: The Surprising Science of Pregnancy," wrote that 1 in 450 pregnant women are unaware until week 20 -- that's more than halfway through pregnancy. "1 in 2,500 is oblivious until she actually goes into labor," Pincott added.
The phenomenon isn't necessarily explained by denial or mental illness, Pincott discovered in her research. Some moms-to-be don't experience common pregnancy symptoms, "no weight gain, no nausea, and little to no abdominal swelling. They may still have their periods, or have always had irregular periods. If they have symptoms, they're so subtle as to be easily mistaken for something else," Pincott wrote in a blog post.
In Cleghorn's case, doctors pointed to her car crash as explanation for her symptoms. But, she's thrilled with the outcome. "I love being a mum," she told The Express.
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