Brittney Malouin went to the ER for appendicitis. She had no idea she would come out a few hours later with a baby in her arms.
When Brittney went to the hospital because she woke up with excruciating pain.
The doctors performed routine tests on her and eliminated it was her gallbladder and appendix. But her blood test showed something different and unexpected.
It turned out Brittney was told by the ultrasound technician that she was pregnant plus she was already 41 weeks pregnant and in active labor. And it was appendicitis pain she was feeling but contractions!
Brittney and her partner, Tom Grady, were shocked. They had no idea she was pregnant!
They came in near sunrise and they knew they were pregnant by 6:00 am. By 10:30 am, they were holding their newborn baby in their arms.
The surprised parents named him Gavin Robert Grady.
Brittney had what is called a cryptic pregnancy. She experienced this a year before when she found out she was pregnant with their third child, Bennett, at 22 weeks. But this one takes the cake when they find out about the pregnancy while in active labor.
According to Very Well Health, cryptic pregnancies are usually discovered either at the halfway mark or when they’re in labor. In Brittney’s case, it happened to her twice. What are the odds, right?
Either Brittney had no pregnancy symptoms or she hadn’t noticed it at all.
Cryptic pregnancies are rare. Only 1 in 475 pregnancies are unnoticed until the halfway mark. And 1 in 2,500 pregnancies is discovered when in labor. It’s so shocking that Brittney experienced both likelihoods in her pregnancy.
Unfortunately, there is little research on cryptic pregnancies and there’s just not enough information on why and how it happens.
Doctors can only speculate on several reasons expectant mothers don’t realize they’re pregnant until they do halfway through it or in labor.
Sometimes, there really are no pregnancy symptoms or they’re so few that they’re mistaken for something else. A mother won’t notice too if they experience an irregular menstrual cycle.
Age is also a factor.
And sometimes, there’s no obvious baby bump, especially if the mother has a large abdomen. And maybe the location of the fetus and placenta makes it hard for the baby to make any type of movement.
And the mother could also be experiencing mental health struggles. They could either not understand what’s happening to them or they’re in denial that they’re pregnant.
For Brittney, it could have been a combination of these conditions.
Or it could also have been sheer exhaustion from trying to balance work as a food server and raising three kids with Tom, including a one-year-old rambunctious little boy.
Oh and when they told their two older children that they suddenly had a new baby brother, they were shocked.
It’s a good thing they have a one-year-old at home. They won’t need to buy new items for the new baby just yet.
Watch how the siblings reacted to the news of a new baby brother in the video below.
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