Some people have compared passing a kidney stone to giving birth. But one woman who thought she had kidney stones discovered she was actually in labor—and she had no idea that she was pregnant.
Stephanie Jaegers went to the hospital with her husband Michael last week because she was having severe abdominal pains, reports 12 News Now. When they got there, doctors asked if Stephanie might be pregnant. When she said no, they started to prep her for X-rays.
But then they changed their minds. "'She's not getting a CAT scan, she's getting an ultrasound,'" her husband Michael remembers them saying. Turns out, Stephanie was 38 weeks pregnant, and in labor—and she had no clue. "There are no words to describe the range of feelings associated with being told that you're having a baby—in 30 minutes," Michael told 12 News Now.
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Um…how is that possible? Michael wrote on Facebook that he gets that it sounds crazy, but that Stephanie was diagnosed with pre-menopause (a.k.a. perimenopause), a condition that can cause a hormone imbalance that mimics some of the symptoms of pregnancy. According to the Mayo Clinic, "perimenopause means 'around menopause' and refers to the time during which your body makes the natural transition to menopause, marking the end of the reproductive years." Basically, it’s very unlikely that women in this stage would get pregnant, but it’s still technically possible.
"Shaun was also breech throughout the entire pregnancy which prevented him from moving around to indicate to Steph that he was in there and his position made it to where Steph didn’t 'show,'" wrote Michael. "The most bizarre part is she continued to have a menstrual cycle, which the hospital tells us is rare, but can happen." (Heal your whole body with Rodale's 12-day power plan for better health.)
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Of course, it was a lot to process. "I can't even begin to explain to you guys the range of emotions we've experienced over the last 12 hours," said Michael. "I went from Googling 'kidney stone treatments' to a panic attack over the fact that not only were we pregnant, but the baby was coming within the hour."
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Baby Shaun joins the couple’s other three kids and is doing well.
