Woman who didn’t know she was pregnant gives birth 20 MINUTES after being rushed to hospital with back pain
A MAN has told how he drove his wife to hospital after she complained of back pain — only to be told 20 minutes later: “Congratulations on your new baby.”
Mateusz Kotlarek, 27, and his wife Karolina, 25, say they had no idea she was pregnant before she gave birth last Wednesday night.
The drama began when sous chef Mateusz was collected from work at Anderson’s on ’s north-side by Karolina and their other son, three-year-old Maximilian.
The couple were heading back to their home in Swords when Karolina began to feel increasingly unwell. When they pulled in to get petrol, she went to the bathroom and noticed she was bleeding.
They immediately headed for Beaumont Hospital and went to the ED, where Karolina was whisked away by staff.
Around 20 minutes later, a stunned Mateusz was informed he had a new baby son, whom they have since named Aleksander.
Medics believe Karolina, who, like her husband, is originally from Poland, was in her 38th week of pregnancy, making the tot almost full term.
Little Aleksander, which weighed around 5lb 11oz, was in perfect health and returned home with the family this weekend.
'MIRACLE BABY'
Proud dad Mateusz told the Irish Sun: “This was like a story from a movie. My wife told me she had pain in her back, so we went to Beaumont ED.
“They very quickly took my wife away and I was waiting with Maximilian in another room.
“A lady came in and brought me to my wife and everyone in the Emergency Department clapped their hands and said, ‘Congratulations! Congratulations!’
“I didn’t understand because I didn’t know she was pregnant.”
Mateusz said the couple are genuinely stunned at what happened and had no indications or physical changes to Karolina to let them know what was coming.
He said: “Some of my friends can’t believe we didn’t know, because normally you have some news the baby is coming.
“But nothing, it’s like a miracle baby for us. There was nothing.
“My friends asked me, ‘But how could she be pregnant?’ And all I say was, ‘I don’t know, but it did not feel like a pregnancy or anything’. But it’s great, obviously we are really happy.”
Mateusz spent the weekend buying a new cot and other requirements for the unexpected bundle of joy together with his own father, Mariusz, who works with him at Anderson’s.
Mariusz told us: “We had to do in two or three days what everyone else does in six or seven months. It’s an unbelievable thing to happen.”
LABOUR LETTER
A letter given to the family by the Beaumont doctor who delivered the child reads: “Please be advised Karolina Kotlarek arrived in the ED on July 24, 2019.
"She was unaware of being pregnant and complaining of lower abdominal pain. When I examined her, I found she was in labour.
"I subsequently delivered the baby and had to transfer her to the Rotunda Hospital for further care and management for her and the newborn.
“Please be advised that she was not booked for antenatal care.”
Aleksander’s birth is the latest so-called ‘cryptic ’, where a woman gives birth despite not being aware she was carrying.
A 2002 study published in the British Medical Journal estimated the rate of such pregnancies at just one in every 2,500 births.
most read in news
Pat O’Brien, consultant obstetrician and spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “There are a number of reasons why women may not experience or notice typical pregnancy symptoms.
“Many women don’t experience sickness during pregnancy and others, particularly those who may be overweight, might not recognise that they have put on weight or feel the baby moving.
“It is possible for women to not be aware of their pregnancy, but it is still fairly rare.”
