A 23-year-old Scottish mum has described her shock and elation after she found out she was expecting when she went into labour.
Care worker Adele Duncan, from Aberdeen, didn’t know she’d become pregnant after a fling with a friend, in spring 2016.
Although she had not used contraception, Adele had no idea she was pregnant as she’d experienced no symptoms apart from backache, according to The Metro.
“I stayed a size 16 throughout my pregnancy,” Adele explained. “Because my periods are very on-and-off, I didn’t notice anything different.”
Adele continued to perform strenuous tasks during her work at a care home, without knowing she was pregnant. “I’d get people in and out of bed and the bath,” she explained.
On December 23, 2016, Adele worked a double shift at the care home, and that night she felt a pain in her stomach. She was alarmed to find she was bleeding, and went straight to hospital.
“I honestly didn’t know,’ she said. "But, I was taken to the labour ward and just 20 minutes later I was told, ‘You have a baby girl’.”
Adele gave birth to a little girl named Macie, weighing seven pounds, one ounce. The little girl was full-term and perfectly healthy, and was born en caul (or inside the amniotic sac), which occurs in fewer than one in 80,000 births.
Midwives broke the sac and handed a shocked Adele her newborn daughter.
With Christmas just around the corner, Adele’s family dashed out to the supermarkets to buy a supply of nappies for the new mum. On Christmas Day, Adele brought her baby home, and shared her astonishing news with her friends on Facebook.
“Everyone might be a bit shocked, just like I still am. I still can’t get my head around it all really, but I would like you all to meet baby Duncan.
“She was a surprise, born 23/12/2016, weighing 7lb 1.5oz at 11.43pm at night, after a quick 20-minute labour.
“Me and baby are perfectly fine, and everything is OK,” she reassured her friends.
Despite her pregnancy being completely unplanned, Adele is enjoying life as a mum, describing as “very rewarding”.
She said: “I always thought my job in a care home was the most rewarding thing I did. But, while it’s very worthwhile, nothing compares to being a mum to Macie.”
