How could any woman not know she is pregnant until she gives birth? Story in the DAILY MAIL
This story featuring three interviews I did with women who gave birth unexpectedly was the focus of much debate on Mail Online after it was printed on Wednesday.
As a mum of three myself, there was a time when I used to wonder myself how anyone could possibly be heavily pregnant and not know. However, over the past 20 years (or so!) as a journalist, I have come across these stories a number of times. And having spoken to professionals such as doctors and midwives (not to mention listening to the women’s accounts) I can say the phenomenon definitely exists.
Now, recent studies back this up. It is believed as many as one in 600 births happen to women who had no idea they were pregnant when they went into labour or only found out shortly before.
This is not to be confused with concealed pregnancies, which are actually much rarer. This is where the woman does know she is pregnant but hides it from friends or families. This often results in the more tragic outcomes we read in the papers such as abandoned newborn babies.
Fortunately, the mums I spoke to for the Daily Mail article this week were all absolutely thrilled to have their babies – once they’d got over the shock of giving birth of course!
Anyway, it was a throughly enjoyable feature to research and a pleasure to speak to the mums involved.
Surprise baby stories are always popular and I have probably sold up to a dozen similar stories in my career to various newspapers and magazines.
So do let me know here if the same thing has happened to you!
