Mom claims she mistook labor for bad Chinese food
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- A Florida woman awoke to what she believed were the consequences of a bad dish of General Tso's chicken, but instead had an unexpected baby in her arms three hours later. The Pensacola News Journal reports 29-year-old Crystal Gail Amerson thought food poisoning was responsible for the stomach pains that woke her up early Sunday -- unaware that she was actually 37 weeks pregnant.
An ambulance arrived hours later, as the pain escalated. Her son -- 19-inch, 5-pound Oliver James -- soon entered the world in the back of the ambulance en route to the hospital, not far from the home of her and her fiance Brian Westerfield. The boy is her second child.
Amerson said she never felt many pregnancy symptoms and didn't notice much weight gain.
"Sometimes a woman doesn't have a normal menstrual cycle so they don't notice when they don't have a period," Julie DeCesare, an obstetrician-gynecologist with Sacred Heart Hospital, said, the Pensacola News Journal reports. "Or they use a method of contraceptive so they think they can't get pregnant, but then that method fails. Or some I've seen are just flat out in denial."
Although the Chinese food was absolved of blame, Amerson said she may never look at it the same way again.
