OH BABY
I had no clue I was pregnant until I gave birth at home – I was taking the Pill every day
A TEENAGER had no idea she was pregnant until she gave birth in her bed, given she was still having periods and taking the Pill every day.
Niomi Thomas thought her stomach pains must be constipation but she was in fact in labour with her daughter, Talia Thomas.
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She took some painkillers, but the next morning her pain worsened to the extent she could barely stand.
The 18-year-old, of Molesey, Surrey, said: "I had this massive urge to push and I then felt a relief and thought, 'Oh great, the pain's gone'.
"And I turned around and I was like, 'Oh my god, I've had a baby'.
"I was so shocked, it was literally like it wasn't reality.
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"It's a lovely shocking story now but it was so traumatic to just see a baby on the bed without knowing you were going to have it."
Photos captured by Niomi show her a fortnight before she gave birth with no sign of a baby bump.
Nine months on from her surprise delivery, Niomi is reassuring others who have experienced cryptic pregnancies that they're “not alone”.
Cryptic pregnancies, those that go unnoticed, can happen for a number of reasons, including a hidden baby bump, mental health issues, a false negative test result and lack of symptoms.
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Niomi said: "I had no idea I was pregnant until I gave birth.
"It was a very crazy and shocking discovery.
"It sounds a bit silly because usually your periods stop, you get a bump and morning sickness and loads of different things, but I literally had nothing.
"My periods were still coming and going and I've always had irregular ones, so I just thought that was normal because that's how I've had them for quite a few years now.
"I didn't feel anything different. I just knew that I'd put on a bit of weight and was obviously quite upset about that but I didn't think it was pregnancy because it didn't look like it was a pregnancy gain as such.
"I was on the Pill and took it every day.”
Niomi said she never felt her baby kick, and said doctors said this was because her placenta was at the front of her womb.
At the time, Niomi was just 17 years old and completing an apprenticeship as a nursery nurse.
It was so traumatic to just see a baby on the bed without knowing you were going to have it
Niomi
She said: "The day before I was working and thought I had my period, so I was having a lot of bad back and stomach pains which is normal for me when I have my period.
"It got to the point where I couldn't work anymore so I went home.
"Overnight it got progressively worse and obviously looking back at it now, that was labour.
"I thought it was just constipation at the time because everyone [her mother, neighbour and 111 operator] was like, 'It might be constipation'.
"Because I thought I was on my period, I thought it was a combination of both.
"The next day I woke up and couldn't go to work as I could barely stand or sit down.
"I was just getting hot flushes and it got to the point where I was like, 'I'll take myself to A&E'.
"I was saying to my mum, 'I'll be fine, don't worry about it'.”
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Half an hour later, Niomi was in so much pain she couldn’t move, and her mum told her to take some painkillers.
Soon after she became hot and sweaty and felt increasingly ill.
Niomi said: "I went to lay on my bed and just looked out the window to try and focus on something else and by then water came out.
"I realise now it was obviously my waters breaking but at the time I didn't realise so I was really scared.
"I texted my mum saying, 'I'm really scared, something is happening to me'. By the time she'd seen it I was already halfway through giving birth.
"It was obviously really traumatic and very scary because I was very confused about what was happening as I'd never felt that kind of pain before.”
The full-time-mum gave birth to her daughter Talia weighing 7lbs 3oz just before midday.
Niomi said she was 38 or 39 weeks pregnant when she had little Talia and suspects she was in labour for more than 12 hours.
After giving birth, she immediately rang her mum, screamed for her father to help and rang an ambulance before she was taken to Kingston Hospital in Surrey for five days.
Having no idea that she was expecting, Niomi said she drank around four iced coffees a day and enjoyed an average of three alcoholic drinks a week.
Despite this little Talia, now nine-months-old, was perfectly healthy.
Niomi: "Holding her in hospital was like, 'Wow, I'm actually a mum now and I've got a little girl that I have to look after'. It was just a very special moment.
"She's such a playful and cheeky little character.
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"I would tell other women who have had a similar experience that they're not alone and it's definitely hard but there are always other people that have gone through the same.
"Even though it's a shock and everything, it's just enjoyable in the end."
Can you get pregnant on the Pill?
When the Pill is taken perfectly it is 99 per cent effective. That means that one in every 100 women taking the Pill could become pregnant.
But life gets busy and it's easy to forget to take it, so in reality it is about 91 per cent effective.
And progesterone-only pills are the most heavily reliant on timing.
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