Surprise! Illinois woman learns she's pregnant days before giving birth
CHICAGO -- She lost 10 pounds in seven months, and even went hiking two weeks ago, but what Emily Sanders didn't know was she was also seven months pregnant.
Nicole Lynn Bartelstein was born last Thursday, weighing 2 pounds 3.3 ounces. Her arrival started with her mom going to the emergency room with severe cramping, CBS Chicago reported.
Sanders said that when the lab technician came back and told her she was pregnant, she was "in complete shock."
"I called my fiancé, and it was silence over the other end," she said.
Sanders and her fiancé had no idea she was seven months pregnant.
"I had something called placenta previa, which is where the placenta's not in the correct place, causes bleeding and clotting, making me not be able to feel her move, and why I was bleeding. It ... made me think I was having irregular menstrual cycles," she said.
An ultrasound soon showed the couple that their daughter was in a standing position, not the natural fetal position, explaining why her belly was so flat and pregnancy went undetected.
Dr. Melissa Dennis, director of obstetrics at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, did not treat Sanders, but explained the rare condition.
"It happens in less than 1 percent of pregnancies," she said. "When someone has a placenta previa, what can happen is you can have painless vaginal bleeding. So a woman will easily think, 'Oh, I'm having my period right now.'"
A previous Cesarean section is one of the risk factors.
Sanders had her first child, Jesse, 14 months ago by C-section. He is eagerly awaiting his sister's arrival home from the hospital.
"She is so loved, and I can't wait to bring her home," Sanders said.
Due to her condition, Sanders said on her GoFundMe page that she went into early labor on Thursday, June 16, just four days after learning she was pregnant.
"...and with an emergency C-section we welcomed Nicole Lynn at 4:45am," she wrote.
Sanders said Nicole Lynn likely will stay in the neonatal intensive care unit until September, when she's expected to go home.
Sanders is raising money on GoFundMe page to help pay for the unexpected medical bills, and transportation to and from the hospital, while Nicole Lynn is in the NICU.