Woman has surprise baby after thinking weight gain during lockdown was due to snacking

A new mum is celebrating the arrival of her baby boy, despite not realising she was pregnant until an hour before giving birth.

When Tasha Davies, 28, noticed she’d gained a little weight, she put it down to increased snacking during lockdown.

But, at 7.30am on September 1, she gave birth to her son, Alexander Isaac Gohan Hern, an hour after being told of her pregnancy.

Davies woke in the middle of the night with severe stomach pains, and by 6am she had been admitted to Wigan Infirmary.

There, her and her partner, Martin, were shocked to discover that she was actually in labour.

Read more: Nurse gives birth in car as husband drives them to hospital at 70mph

“It was just such a mixture of shock and surprise,” Davies says of her surprise pregnancy. “I didn't have any morning sickness and experienced no symptoms at all.

“Right towards the very end, about 24 hours before he came, my belly became really bloated.

“But by then I was getting severe stomach pains and hadn’t passed water for 24 hours so we thought there was something really wrong.

“It was really scary - about 3am the night before I started hyperventilating and that’s when the pain really kicked in. I think that's when the contractions started but, of course, we didn’t know.”

Davies explains that when she arrived at the hospital the nurses had asked if she could be pregnant, but not believing she could be, she’d told them she wasn’t.

“But then they said they were going to do a test and the possibility started to sink in,” she says

“We were just in absolute shock when he arrived.”

Read more: Woman with two wombs gives birth to baby: what is uterus didelphys?

During the 41 weeks she was pregnant, Davies, had no idea she was carrying a baby and had continued having periods.

Though she had gained some weight, she assumed it was down to snacking more and exercising less during lockdown.

“I've been working really long hours from home during lockdown, have been snacking a lot and haven't been going to the gym or doing any real exercise at all.

“I just put the extra weight down to that.”

Davies was due to return to work as a paralegal on Tuesday after being on annual leave, but instead Hern called to tell her colleagues she had become a mum.

Read more: Birth expert shares top tips on how to get through first 12 weeks of pregnancy

New dad Martin has spent the past few days rushing around to get all of the essentials while he waits for his partner and baby to come home from hospital.

“I honestly didn’t know what to think when we went to the hospital,” Hern explains.

“Tasha was seen by a triage nurse and wheeled away to be treated, and I waited in a corridor.

“Fifteen minutes later a nurse came, shouted my name and said Tasha had gone into labour and they were taking her to the delivery suite.

“It was so surreal. I went to bed that night thinking I was going to pick up a washer-dryer. Instead I was going to the hospital to find out I was having a baby boy.”

“The hospital has given us all the packs of information we should have got throughout the nine months - we’ve got a lot of reading to do."

Speaking of his partner’s new role as a mum, he continues: “Tasha has been brilliant. She's taken to it so well - she’s absolutely great with him.

“I can't wait to get them home now - she wants to be out of hospital and we can't wait to start our lives as a new, little family of three.”

Additional reporting SWNS.