She thought she was going no. 2 — but it turned out to be kiddo no. 3.
Helen and Michael Green, both 45, were on vacation in Toronto, Canada, for a 10-day road trip with their 6-year-old daughter Darcy — though they had no idea Helen was nine months pregnant.
They arrived at their Holiday Inn hotel room on May 21 and tucked into bed by 11 p.m.
Less than three hours later, the Brit from Bristol woke up with stomach pains and ran towards the bathroom with the sudden “urge to push.”
“I had no idea what was happening, my body just took over,” she shared with SWNS. “After two massive pushes, there was a baby, so I picked her up out of the loo and held her in my arms.”
Imagine her husband’s shock when he woke up to the sound of a crying infant.
Michael immediately called the first responders, and a fire crew arrived within 10 minutes to take them to Mount Sinai Hospital.
“I was in such a daze, we could hardly work out what was going on,” Michael said. “We didn’t know if the baby was well or whether it was full term. We didn’t even check to see whether it was a boy or a girl — a paramedic told us.”
Helen had experienced what medical pros call a cryptic pregnancy — despite experiencing regular periods along the way.
“I had no idea at all that I was pregnant; everything seemed completely normal,” Helen said. “I worked, exercised, wore the same clothes and ate the same food as usual.”
“Even the doctors at the hospital were really surprised.”
Helen had no symptoms during the pregnancy and experienced a series of miscarriages after giving birth to Darcy, so she assumed she was perimenopausal.
“In the hospital, they kept asking me about the pregnancy, and I couldn’t answer them, I just kept saying ‘I don’t know.’”
Helen, who also has an 18-year-old son, Harry, claimed she had “massive bumps” during her two previous pregnancies.
Though it was “such a huge, huge shock,” the family is overjoyed with the “lovely surprise” of their now 11-week-old daughter, Olivia, whom they named after one of the nurses in the hospital.
“She just came along and it feels like she’s always been with us,” Helen said. “Everything feels complete now. She has made us all so happy.”
Michael, who works in financial services, agreed. “It’s so crazy and still feels surreal,” he said. “It’s been such a bonkers time. She’s such a joy!”
Family and friends were reportedly dumbfounded when Helen and Michael sent text messages that said, “Don’t worry, but Helen is in the hospital,” along with a picture of Darcy holding Olivia.
Mom and baby were discharged the following day, but because Olivia had no documents, they couldn’t leave Canada and had to wait for the birth certificate and passport.
“Registering her birth was a nightmare. All we had were discharge papers from hospital,” Helen explained. “There was confusion over whether she was a home birth because she was born in a hotel, or a hospital birth because the placenta was delivered in a hospital.”
They had to get signed documents from doctors and paramedics, and said the whole process was “very draining and stressful.”
The family combated their bureaucratic woes by taking their four-day-old to one of Toronto’s architectural marvels, the CN Tower, visiting Niagara Falls — twice — and attending three baseball games.
“Ultimately, we got an extended holiday and had a really really special time together,” Helen said. “It was very hard not knowing how long we would be there, and very stressful on week days chasing the birth certificate and passport, but great at the weekends when all the offices were closed and there was nothing we could do about it.”
The family was eventually able to fly home on June 25 — more than a month after their Canadian tour began — and spent an estimated $12,200 more than they expected, including about $5,400 in hospital fees, over $2,700 in hotels, and nearly $1,400 for the hire car, flights home, baby equipment and living costs.
But they said that travel insurance will hopefully cover most of those costs.
“Getting your head round having a baby is hard, but it’s something else when you didn’t know you were pregnant,” Helen said.
“Within a few days, it just started to feel familiar that I had a baby, and such a joy.”
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