When Bryony Mills-Evans gave birth to her daughter Willow at the age of 23, she had no idea she was pregnant until the moment she was giving birth on her own at work. She experienced a ‘cryptic pregnancy’ where women don’t know they’re pregnant until late in the pregnancy or even until labour begins. Studies suggest that around 1 in 475 pregnancies go unnoticed until about 20 weeks’ gestation, while 1 in 2,500 go unnoticed until delivery.
Here, Bryony shares her story.
It was a cold night late in November 2019 and the snow was coming down fast outside. I’d just finished my last client in the beauty salon that I run in mid-Wales, and was wiping down the manicure station, trying to ignore the cramps in my belly. The cramps had started the night before, and I couldn’t stop going for a wee, but it was my time of the month and I’d been spotting, so I just assumed I was due my period.
But after about 10 minutes, the cramps became almost unbearable. I went to lie on the massage table and pulled my leggings down so I could rub my lower belly, trying to ease the pain. At that point, I was still so sure it was just very bad period cramps.
I lay there for a while rubbing my lower stomach and taking deep, meditative breaths. But then I felt the strangest sensation, as though something was pushing against my knickers. The cramps were excruciating. I knew then that this wasn’t just period pain.
I reached down and all of a sudden, I felt something. I gasped when I realised it was a tiny head. They weren’t period cramps at all; they were contractions. I was having a baby.
I didn’t have time to think or go into shock. My phone had died and was in the other room, and at age 23 with no idea I’d been pregnant for the past 10 months, I didn’t know the first thing about labour and giving birth. Somehow my instincts just kicked in. I pushed as hard as I could, sweat now pouring off me, until around 20 minutes later, I heard my baby cry for the first time. I looked down, and saw that it was a girl.
I pulled her up to my chest and just lay there holding my baby, my body trying to process what had just happened as this tiny thing wriggled and cried. I soon realised I needed to keep her warm, so I wrapped her in towels I had in the salon, and she slowly started to calm down. At this point, the umbilical cord was still attached, so I reached over for my eyebrow scissors and gently cut a few inches away from her body (I’m very lucky this went well, as this should always be done by a medical professional).
She was calm, so I went to charge my phone and use the toilet. I know it sounds strange, but I was weirdly calm, too – maybe it just hadn’t sunk in yet, or maybe my body was just in fight or flight mode.