A woman in Georgia got the surprise of her life when she went into a hospital thinking to get kidney stones flushed out, and left with a brand-new baby instead.
Stephanie Jaegers, 37, had been having severe abdominal cramps that wouldn’t stop, along with some back pain when she urinated. Suspecting kidney stones, she and her husband, Mike, decided to go to the hospital, according to People.
When she got there, staff at the Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge asked her if she was pregnant, and she said no. Jaegers had been diagnosed with early menopause last year, and had her period that day. She had two children, a boy and a girl, and had given up having more babies – the family had donated all old baby clothes and items, and put things like the car seat and crib in storage.
In addition, she said she had not experienced any morning sickness, breast tenderness or other symptoms of pregnancy. Her stomach had bulged, but not considerably so, and her weight had changed by only a few pounds in the last months, Stephanie told the Washington Post.
The doctors decided to do an ultrasound anyway, along with blood and urine tests. The couple was more than astounded when the lab work showed she was not only 38 weeks and two days pregnant, but her water had broken and she was already in labor.
How was this in me?
Stephanie says she asked the doctor. “[Shaun] was breech and he was sitting, and as he was sitting his little feet were up by his head, so he couldn’t wiggle, he couldn’t move. The doctor was like, that’s why you didn’t feel him.” Her early menopause also explained the hormonal imbalance.
After disbelief came panic as Stephanie and Mike went over the past months to remember if she had eaten or done anything that might have harmed the baby’s health. Her last pregnancy had been a complicated one, and involved surgery and blood transfusions. Doctors had recommended not having any more kids.
But in just a few hours, she gave birth naturally to a healthy baby boy weighing 7 lbs. 3 oz. They named him Shaun.
She says she will no longer be so quick to judge women who say they had no idea they were pregnant until giving birth. The Jaegers are still in shock, but thrilled with the new addition to the family.
