"Appendix Burst" Went to Hospital but Sent to Delivery Room... Gave Birth in 40 Minutes

A Woman in Her 20s Experiences "Cryptic Pregnancy"
Discovers Pregnancy Only 40 Minutes Before Giving Birth

A woman in her 20s from Scotland, who suffered from severe abdominal pain and went to the hospital, only then discovered she was pregnant and gave birth to a daughter just 40 minutes later.

Anna Jackson, a Scottish woman who went to the hospital thinking she had appendicitis but found out she was pregnant (left in the left photo), and her daughter born last year (right photo). Photo by New York Post

On the 13th (local time), foreign media including the New York Post reported the story of Anna Jackson (22), who gave birth to a daughter early last year. Jackson initially thought the abdominal pain was simple menstrual cramps, but as the pain worsened, she suspected appendicitis and visited the hospital. However, medical staff found that Jackson's abdomen was abnormally swollen and conducted a pregnancy test. At the time, Jackson firmly denied being pregnant. However, the test results confirmed she was pregnant, and labor had already begun.

Jackson said, "When I was told I was pregnant and asked if there was anything I needed to do, the medical staff said there wasn’t much," adding, "They told me since labor had started, I needed to go to the delivery room." Jackson gave birth to a healthy baby girl weighing 3.1 kg just 40 minutes after learning she was pregnant.

She recalled, "I didn’t feel any pregnancy symptoms at all," and "I often felt my belly swelling, but I thought it was because I had eaten a lot of dairy products and felt uncomfortable." She also thought missing her period was due to regularly taking birth control pills. She continued, "It took me 2 to 3 weeks to accept the fact of pregnancy and childbirth. It felt like watching a new episode of the American medical drama 'Grey's Anatomy,'" and added, "My boyfriend immediately switched to 'dad mode' and started taking care of the baby right away."

Jackson, now an 8-month-old mother, said that both she and her baby are healthy and happy and that she is adapting to her current life.

A case like Anna Jackson’s, where the pregnancy is only discovered just before delivery, is called a "cryptic pregnancy." Usually, pregnancy is recognized after 4 to 12 weeks, but in cryptic pregnancies, many women only realize they are pregnant in the late stages. In severe cases, like Jackson’s, the pregnancy is only discovered right before delivery. Even when pregnancy symptoms appear, women often attribute them to feeling unwell, as Jackson did. Women experiencing cryptic pregnancy tend to show less abdominal protrusion than typical pregnant women, often mistaking it for weight gain or bloating.

Cryptic pregnancy is relatively rare. It is reported that 1 in 475 cases go unnoticed until 20 weeks of pregnancy, and 1 in 2,500 cases remain undetected until delivery.