A WOMAN didn’t know she was pregnant until she was giving birth to her son.
Rhea Martin, 24, said she only went from a dress size 8 to 10 during her pregnancy, but assumed it was “lockdown weight”.
She had in fact gone through a “cryptic pregnancy”, medically defined as a pregnancy that goes undetected for various reasons.
In Rhea’s case, her bump was unnoticeable. This can happen because the mother has strong abdominal muscles, or excess weight, that hides the bump.
It can also be due to natural differences in the shape of the uterus, if it spreads upwards or more towards the back, causing only a small bump in the uterus.
Rhea, from Heaton Norris in Stockport, went to A&E a day before childbirth with severe back pain, the Manchester Evening News reports.
She was given painkillers and advised not to return during a pandemic.
But the next day, her pain became so crippling she returned to hospital, kissing her boyfriend Luke Melling goodbye.
Rhea was stunned to be told at hospital she was in fact going into labour.
Rhea passed out from the shock, and when she woke up in a different room, she recalls a midwife telling her to “pull it together for your baby and push”.
Myles Melling, weighing 6lb 7oz, was born at at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport on October 20.
At this point, the father, Luke, had no idea his girlfriend was having birth.
Rhea said: “Afterwards I called Luke and told him to come to the hospital where I met him outside.
“I told him there and then and the first thing he asked was if he was a boy, because he’s always wanted a son.
“We can laugh about everything now but at the time it was actually quite traumatising.
“You go into hospital thinking you have serious back pain and a bad stomach ache caused by your period and come out with a baby.”
By medical definition, a cryptic pregnancy is one that is failed to be detected by medical testing.
There may be signs there, but essentially a cryptic pregnancy is one where these signs are not obvious to the woman, or she denies they are there.
A pregnancy test may come back negative even after the woman has missed her period for a number of medical reasons.
If she does get an ultrasound despite a negative pregnancy test, it’s possible a pregnancy won’t show up in the first trimester because of problems such as the way the uterus is shaped, or simply because the medic doesn’t spend time looking for it if they don’t believe it’s there.
Most people notice symptoms of pregnancy such as tender and swollen breasts, mood swings, fatigue, and nausea early on in their pregnancy.
But this could be dismissed by the woman as being caused by something else, such as a condition or diet.
There are also cases where someone become pregnant in their early teens before they understand the symptoms of pregnancy.
Cryptic pregnancies aren’t common, but they’re not unheard of, either. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women might not be aware of their pregnancies in up 1 in 475 cases, according to a British Medical Journal report.
Some women are more likely to have a cryptic pregnancy than others because they believe it is not possible for them to have a child.
It includes those with PCOS, who may have been told it will be difficult for them to have a child, and women on birth control pills, because the woman thinks the pill will protect her entirely from conceiving.
Women with low body fat may also fail to detect they are pregnant if their periods are irregular or absent as a result of being so slim.
Babies born from a cryptic pregnancy tend to be underweight, and the lack of prenatal care may affect their development.
But what about the bump?
A women may have a smaller bump – one she and others around her deem insignificant – for a number of reasons.
Meg Wilson, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at London Gynaecology, told Yahoo: “Although it is unusual to have an entirely flat abdomen in pregnancy, every woman ‘carries’ their pregnancy differently.
“Women who have a long abdomen, may have more space for their uterus to develop upwards rather than outwards which may give the appearance of a ‘smaller bump’.”
The bump could be influenced by the size of the growing baby, and where it sits in the stomach.
It might fall further towards the backs of the body, due to the shape of the uterus.
“Some babies may be very small (growth restricted) which means they do not take up much space,” Meg Wilson continues.
Liz Halliday, Deputy Head of Midwifery at Private Midwives, said: “Women carrying excess weight, especially around the midriff, may not notice the growing bump as pregnancy progresses.
“Women who have very strong abdominal core muscles might not develop much of a bump as the muscles hold the growing uterus firmly and the baby tucks further into the spine.”
Rhea was a dress size 8 in March, but crept up to a size 10 in May.
She assumed the weight gain was due to spending more time at home, with many Brits reporting “lockdown weight”.
She carried on doing home workouts up until giving birth.
Luke, a 27-year-old personal trainer, never noticed a change to her body, saying: “I was extremely shocked that I didn’t notice my own girlfriend was pregnant. Especially being a personal trainer, I felt rather silly.”
The couple have had a hard time adjusting to the sudden news they are parents, especially with the financial hardship of the pandemic.
Rhea, who was made redundant after the first lockdown, had just managed to secure a new job.
But because she had only spent four weeks in the role she does not qualify for company maternity leave or pay.
The new family moved into Luke’s dad’s home, but have been trying to save to buy their own house.
Rhea said: “Financially it’s been a difficult time. We had already started saving for a home together but have struggled to put away as much as we had hoped to due to the Covid climate.
“Obviously for the last four weeks we’ve been in a lockdown and since Luke is a personal trainer he’s been out of work so we’ve had a lot of time together in the house.
“We’re really hoping to save enough to buy our own place next year but it will mean Luke finding more work so it’s quite stressful.
“We’re determined to give Myles the best start to life he can have, despite having absolutely no preparation.
“It’s been a pretty surreal time but we wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Luke added: “Myles is the biggest blessing from what has been a strange year for us all. We had a few hours to turn from a new couple to a family.
“I love Rhea and can’t thank her enough for making me a father.”
