A MOTHER who had no idea she was pregnant has candidly opened up on unexpectedly giving birth when she went to the toilet while on holiday in Canada.
Helen and Michael Green, both 45, arrived in Toronto, Canada , in May for their ten day road trip with their daughter, Darcy, six – unaware that Helen was nine months pregnant .
When Helen woke up with tummy pains in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom, she suddenly felt an “urge to push” and looked down to see a baby .
Helen had experienced a cryptic pregnancy – when a person doesn’t realise they are pregnant until late in the pregnancy or even during labour – she even had a regular period .
But the family are now delighted with their little surprise who is now 11 weeks old and has been named Olivia.
Helen, who is from Bristol and works in financial services, said: “This was such a huge huge shock, and also such a lovely surprise.
“She just came along and it feels like she’s always been with us.
“Everything feels complete now, she has made us all so happy.
“Even the doctors at the hospital were really surprised.
“I had no idea at all that I was pregnant, everything seemed completely normal.
“I worked, exercised , wore the same clothes and ate the same food as usual.”
Michael, who also works in financial services, added: “It’s so crazy and still feels surreal. It’s been such a bonkers time. She’s such a joy!”
Helen, who also has an 18-year-old son Harry, had no symptoms during her pregnancy and had a series of miscarriages after giving birth to Darcy so thought she was perimenopausal .
She said she had “massive bumps” with her first two pregnancies and continued to go to the gym four times a week whilst unaware she was expecting.
The family had just arrived on their holiday and were all tucked up in their Holiday Inn room by 11pm.
But then Helen woke at 1.45am with tummy pains and went to the bathroom.
As she sat down on the loo, she felt something slip into the toilet and looked down and saw a baby – which she scooped up and cuddled.
This was such a huge huge shock, and also such a lovely surprise
Helen Green
Helen stressed: “I had no idea what was happening, my body just took over.
“After two massive pushes there was a baby so I picked her up out of the loo and held her in my arms.”
Michael woke up to hear Olivia, who was born weighing 8lbs 3oz, crying – initially thinking the sound was coming from the next door room – and was shocked when he found his wife in the bathroom with their newborn.
He called 911 and an ambulance, and fire crew were sent to help – arriving within ten minutes – and Helen and Olivia were taken to hospital to be checked over.
Michael said: “I was in such a daze, we could hardly work out what was going on.
“We didn’t know if the baby was well or whether it was full term. We didn’t even check to see whether it was a boy or a girl – a paramedic told us.
“In the hospital they kept asking me about the pregnancy and I couldn’t answer them, I just kept saying ‘I don’t know’.”
What is a cryptic pregnancy?
What is a “cryptic pregnancy”?
By medical definition, a cryptic pregnancy is one that is failed to be detected by medical testing.
There may be signs there, but essentially a cryptic pregnancy is one where these signs are not obvious to the woman, or she denies they are there.
A pregnancy test may come back negative even after the woman has missed her period for a number of medical reasons.
If she does get an ultrasound despite a negative pregnancy test, it’s possible a pregnancy won’t show up in the first trimester because of problems such as the way the uterus is shaped, or simply because the medic doesn’t spend time looking for it if they don’t believe it’s there.
Most people notice symptoms of pregnancy such as tender and swollen breasts, mood swings, fatigue, and nausea early on in their pregnancy.
But this could be dismissed by the woman as being caused by something else, such as a condition or diet.
There are also cases where someone become pregnant in their early teens before they understand the symptoms of pregnancy.
Cryptic pregnancies aren’t common, but they’re not unheard of, either. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women might not be aware of their pregnancies in up 1 in 475 cases, according to a British Medical Journal report.
Some women are more likely to have a cryptic pregnancy than others because they believe it is not possible for them to have a child.
It includes those with PCOS, who may have been told it will be difficult for them to have a child, and women on birth control pills, because the woman thinks the pill will protect her entirely from conceiving.
Women with low body fat may also fail to detect they are pregnant if their periods are irregular or absent as a result of being so slim.
Babies born from a cryptic pregnancy tend to be underweight, and the lack of prenatal care may affect their development.
But what about the bump?
A women may have a smaller bump – one she and others around her deem insignificant – for a number of reasons.
TikTok sensation NHS surgeon Dr Karan Rajan explained: “Most women have an anteverted uterus , [meaning] it’s slightly tilted forwards.
“But one in five have a backwards tilt towards the spine.”
The GP explained that for some women, their uterus may remain tiled backwards for the duration of their pregnancy.
“This ‘backwards growth’ could hide any bump,” he stated.
Other factors that could result in an invisible pregnancy could be “previous surgery, endometriosis and other gynaecological conditions [that] could scar the utroseacral ligament”.
“These are basically biological anchors which keep the uterus fixed to the spine and inside the pelvic cavities,” Dr Rajan explained.
“If these are stiff because of scarring, these ligaments can literally hold the uterus back and stop it from protruding too far out.”
People who are taller also have more of a chance of not displaying a noticeable bump when they’re expecting, the NHS surgeon went on.
“If you’re taller, you’ll have a longer torso so there’ll be more space for the uterus to develop upwards rather than just outwards,” he said, possibly giving the appearance of a small bump.
And if you have particularly “well developed” abs, this may make your uterus “develop closer to your core rather than protruding out”.
The couple sent messages to friends and family saying, ‘don’t worry but Helen is in hospital’, with a picture of Darcy holding baby Olivia – everyone was shocked and delighted.
They named Olivia after one of the nurses in the hospital.
Mum and baby were discharged the next day, but Olivia had no documents and couldn’t leave Canada, so they had to extend their stay while they waited for Olivia’s birth certificate and her passport.
Helen explained: “Registering her birth was a nightmare. All we had were discharge papers from the hospital.
“There was confusion over whether she was a home birth because she was born in a hotel, or a hospital birth because the placenta was delivered in hospital.
“We had to get signed statements from doctors and paramedics. It was very draining and stressful.”
Despite this, the couple were finally able to fly home on June 25 and estimate the trip cost them £9,000 extra – £4,000 in hospital fees , over £2,000 on hotels , and nearly £1,000 on the hire car, flights home, baby equipment and living costs.
However, the family claim most of their costs will hopefully be covered by their travel insurance .
Getting your head round having a baby is hard, but it’s something else when you didn’t know you were pregnant
Helen Green
The family were able to take Olivia up the CN tower at just four days old, watch three baseball games and even visited Niagara Falls twice.
Helen shared: “Ultimately we got an extended holiday and had a really really special time together.
“It was very hard not knowing how long we would be there, and very stressful on weekdays chasing the birth certificate and passport, but great at the weekends when all the offices were closed and there was nothing we could do about it.
“Getting your head round having a baby is hard, but it’s something else when you didn’t know you were pregnant .
“Within a few days it just started to feel familiar that I had a baby, and such a joy.”
