Bryony Mills-Evans assumed the stomach cramps she had overnight and all day at work as a beautician were nothing more than period pains.
But as he was closing the store for the night, events took a dramatic turn.
Not only did the pain in her abdomen intensify, but Bryony became aware of a tight feeling around her waist.
“I felt like my leggings were too small,” says Bryony, 28, from Caersws, Powys.
She pulled down the waistband of her leggings and then lay down on a treatment table waiting for the pain to pass.
“I stayed there for about 20 minutes and the cramps got worse and stronger,” he says.
“Then suddenly I felt something jump between my legs and to my horror and shock I realized it was a head.”
Bryony had no menstrual cramps, she was in labor, despite having no idea she was pregnant.
Bryony, pictured here at six months pregnant, thought the stomach pains she was experiencing were period pains.
Bryony at four months pregnant
She remembers: ‘I sat there, looking at my baby and thinking how had this happened?
‘I had no symptoms, no morning sickness, no lumps, no cravings, but most of all I had had periods every month.
‘I hadn’t planned to be a mother at this age; I was 23 years old. And the father and I were no longer together. I was in total, absolute shock. I couldn’t believe I had had a baby and hadn’t realized it.
“I was lying in bed, at work, with a baby on my stomach and my phone was off and charging in the front of the room.
“I was paralyzed for a while, with the umbilical cord still attached. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t feel an immediate bond like most mothers do, as I had no idea I was even pregnant.
After about 20 minutes, Bryony felt able to get out of bed, wrap her daughter in towels, and head to the front of the room to retrieve her phone and call an ambulance.
It may seem extraordinary for someone to be pregnant and not know it, but it can and does happen.
Known as a cryptic or stealth pregnancy (meaning a woman has no idea she is expecting until she is at least five months pregnant), the woman may not experience any weight gain or any illness and may not even see a bulk. It can bleed, for example when the embryo implants, which is confused with menstrual bleeding.
Bryony with her daughter Willow, whom she gave birth to at age 23 without even knowing she was pregnant
And it’s not as rare as you might think: A 2023 study in the journal Case Reports in Women’s Health, based on data from women in Berlin, Germany, found “pregnancy denial,” a term interchangeable with cryptic pregnancy, at 20 weeks . in one in every 475 pregnancies and one in every 2,500 at term.
If the same trend holds true in the UK, that means there may be around 325 surprise births each year.
Study author Dr Kirsten Duckitt, an associate clinical professor in the division of general gynecology and obstetrics at Vancouver Island Hospitals, told the Mail’s Good Health: “I was surprised by the numbers – it was more common than I would have thought. thought”.
Cryptic pregnancy should not be confused with hidden pregnancy, which historically “was the term where the woman had a good idea of what was going on but for some reason didn’t want to reveal it,” says Dr. Duckitt.
In rare cases, cryptic pregnancy may be associated with women’s inability to accept the fact that they are pregnant, says Professor Susan Bewley, consultant obstetrician and emerita professor of obstetrics and women’s health at King’s College London.
“There are some powerful psychological forces in our heads: we can have two opposing points of view at once, so we are aware that something is happening that we don’t want to see, and therefore we don’t feel it.”
In other words, on a subconscious level these women know that they are pregnant but cannot face that fact.
But the most common thing is that it occurs when the woman has never considered it a possibility: there is no weight gain or nausea, for example. Women may mistake the small spots that may occur due to bleeding from the edge of the placenta for a period.
“And those who have irregular periods may think that some occasional bleeding is perfectly normal for them,” adds Dr. Duckitt.
What’s more, some “handle pregnancies differently and some are more obvious than others,” she says.
He remembers a woman who arrived at the hospital “rolling around in pain” and had no idea she was pregnant.
‘It wasn’t until I did a vaginal exam and found a head that we all realized I was about to give birth. We had to get her to the delivery room very quickly!’
Professor Bewley says that while it is “unusual to not realize you are pregnant, it is possible, and most gynecologists and obstetricians will have encountered cryptic pregnancies in their long career more than once.”
She herself has seen this in women who thought they had gone through menopause, only to discover late in pregnancy that they were about to give birth.
But cryptic pregnancies are more common among young women and those who have irregular periods.
Another factor that can increase the likelihood is that the placenta is located in the front of the uterus, as this can “cushion” the sensation of the baby kicking.
The 28-year-old now has a second son, Parker, 18 months, with partner Rob, who she reconnected with after Willow’s birth.
“It’s as if the baby is kicking a thick piece of meat, which could mean that the mother is not receiving the shock waves in her body to feel the kicks,” says Professor Bewley.
«We know for sure that women who have the placenta in front of the baby and know they are pregnant feel fetal movements less.
‘There is also something called borborygmi, which is that strange noise you make when your intestines move. “Some women feel it frequently and therefore wouldn’t necessarily feel the baby moving if they already have those types of movements.”
Bryony stresses that she was not denying her pregnancy: “I just had no idea,” she says.
‘I had broken up with my long-term boyfriend, Rob, a few months earlier and hadn’t seen anyone else since. I had no reason to believe I was pregnant.
It took two hours for the ambulance to arrive, during which time he delivered the placenta and cut the umbilical cord when he noticed it turning white as the blood drained.
“Instinct told me I needed to get rid of it, so I grabbed a pair of small eyebrow scissors and cut it off,” Bryony says, recalling the November 2019 event.
She then texted her mother, asking her to meet her at the hospital and explained that she had just had a baby, who rushed to the hospital for an emotional reunion.
“I was shocked and very emotional, but also full of love,” Bryony says.
There, doctors checked her and confirmed that both she and her daughter, Willow, who weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces, were fine. She was discharged the next day.
However, Bryony admits that a lack of preparation made life with a newborn difficult.
“I had no idea how to feed him, I never changed diapers and I was at home with a newborn,” she says.
‘No doctor asked me for a follow-up or explained to me why this had happened. They just sent me home with this baby.
“The midwives visited me a few days after the birth and then the health visitor once or twice, but there was no additional help.”
A few days later he broke the news to Rob, who was excited. The couple rekindled their relationship, with Bryony and baby Willow living with her mother and Rob at his parents’ house, until they bought a house three years later.
“Rob and I learned quickly and fell in love with it.” Bryony says.
Bryony’s baby came as a shock not only to her but also to her friends, some of whom even sent her messages asking if she had made it up. When she and her friends were reunited, everyone was emotional: “some even cried.”
Bryony and Rob now have a second child, a boy, Parker, 18 months; Willow is now five years old.
This pregnancy was normal and she felt him move and had no periods.
‘Funnily enough with Parker, she looked very pregnant!’ she says.
‘Looking back now I can see that I was very tired with my first pregnancy, but I put it down to working a lot and having a busy social life.
“Willow was a complete surprise, but now I can’t imagine life without her.”