Professional dancer thought she was having cramps, but she was in labor

A woman who thought she was suffering from severe menstrual pain was left shocked after unexpectedly giving birth on a public street.

Key Takeaways:

• Katie Brown thought she was having menstrual cramps, but the pain was so bad she decided to go to the hospital.

• On This Morning, she recounted the experience, describing how her mother arrived to help her, suspecting it was appendicitis.

• When an ambulance finally arrived, Brown was walking to the ambulance when she was forced to drop to the ground, and her son was born, with her mother catching the baby.

• Though cryptic pregnancies like this one are rare, there have been several cases just within the past year.

The Details:

Katie Brown, a professional dancer in the United Kingdom, was startled awake one night by what she initially believed were strong menstrual cramps. When the pain didn't subside, she called for emergency assistance. 

“I woke up, and I thought, I'm having period pains. So, I went and got some paracetamol, and then I couldn't sit down. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, these are really bad. Oh my goodness,'” Brown recounted during her recent appearance on This Morning, according to PEOPLE. “So, then it got to about 7 a.m., and I thought, 'Oh, I can't do this anymore.’” 

Brown recalled asking her daughter to get her mother, Diane, as the pain grew so intense that she felt she needed to head to the hospital. When Diane arrived, she suspected it might be appendicitis, later conceding that neither of them thought of the notion that Brown could actually be in labor.

“We rang the ambulance, and then they said, ‘Oh, we can't come for 4 hours.’ But I think they could hear me kind of being like, ‘I need to get somewhere. I need to do something,’” Brown said.

‘I Gave Birth to a Surprise Baby in the Street!’ I This Morning

“I genuinely thought I was just having a massive poo,” she said.

What Happened:

Nonetheless, as Brown advanced toward the waiting ambulance, she suddenly felt something fall from her clothing, only to realize in amazement that she had just delivered her second child, a baby boy later named William.

“They turned up [around 9 a.m.], walked me out onto my street, and then I had to drop to my hands and knees, and he was born at 20 [minutes] to 10 a.m,” Brown said. “I was facing a lamp post, and when my mom caught him, we just heard him. He just cried straight away. And I just remember facing this lamp post thinking, 'Oh my goodness.’” 

“I could see something coming out, the shape. So I went down on my knees behind her and [caught him],” Diane said.

When Brown told her partner Conner about the news, she said he was surprised, but helped both her and her mother to remain calm .

“He was saying, ’You're doing really well, Diane. You're doing so well.’ And I'm thinking, ‘I'm not the one having the baby. I'm [laughter] just holding it. I'm just holding it,’” Diane said, before Brown added, "But no, he was great. He's been so supportive."

As she was taken to the hospital in a different ambulance from her newborn, Brown did not immediately learn whether she had delivered a boy or a girl.

Her mother Diane recalled that they were already en route to the hospital when they discovered the baby was a boy — making the moment particularly special, as boys are rare in their family. Brown chose to name her son after her father.

The Context:

Cases like Brown’s, occasionally alluded to as “cryptic pregnancies,” happen when a woman remains ignorant of her pregnancy until very late stages, or even until labor begins. Though generally rare, such situations are medically documented and can happen for a variety of reasons, such as irregular cycles, lack of noticeable physical changes, or misinterpretation of symptoms.

Live Action News has reported on a number of cryptic pregnancies.

At Christmastime last year, Melanie Smith unexpectedly delivered a baby boy after being told she would likely never have children.

In February this year, Fed Ex employee Amethyst Blumberg gave birth to a baby boy in the employee bathroom at the end of her shift, never knowing she was pregnant.

UK mom Helen Green had a surprise birth of a baby girl while she and her family were on vacation in Canada last year.

Another woman experiencing a cryptic pregnancy gave birth at Burning Man, with other attendees jumping into action to help, and an Indianapolis woman was shocked to give birth to a baby in her shower last year.

The Bottom Line:

Stories like this serve as a powerful reminder of the inherent dignity and unpredictability of human life. Even in situations where a pregnancy goes entirely unnoticed, a fully formed child is growing and developing in his or her mother’s womb, and sometimes entering the world in the most unexpected ways.

Every life, planned or unplanned, contains intrinsic value. In this case, a child who might never have been expected or “planned for” was born into a world where immediate care and concern were readily offered.