On Tuesday, Katherine Kropas, a 23-year-old Massachusetts woman, gave birth to a healthy 10 pound baby… an hour after learning from doctors that she was 9-months pregnant. She was taken to the hospital by her grandmother after accusing severe stomach pains.

The baby was born around 11:00 p.m. and is a girl. Both Ms. Kropas and her boyfriend were shocked by the pregnancy news.

At the time, I was like, this has got to be a joke, but I had no idea what to think,”

the first time mom told reporters.

Katherine told doctors that she didn’t have any pregnancy symptoms during the last nine months. No morning sickness, back pain or sore breasts. The only problem was gaining weight and swollen feet. Ms. Kropas said that she even had a regular monthly period.

She also said that she was on birth control all along. When asked why she didn’t go for a medical checkup to see what the cause for the swollen feet was, she said she thought it was from the 50 hours per week she had spent working on her feet as a caterer.

She also attributed her extra pounds to her holiday eating.

After hearing the news, her boyfriend called her mother, who thought that he was joking. Also, Katherine said in a recent interview that people were making fun of her in the hospital for not knowing that she was nine months pregnant.

They just say ‘you were carrying around 10 extra pounds and didn’t know it? I don’t know why I didn’t know. I mean, I’m just excited and I appreciate everyone who is helping,”

Katherine said.

Doctors said that Katherine’s case was not unique. In medical literature, that situation is called “cryptic pregnancy,” and it isn’t as rare as people think. It mostly occurs in first-time mothers that do not know what to expect from a pregnancy, or in mothers that have no or little pregnancy symptoms such as weight gain, nausea, abdominal swelling etc.

Many women mistake subtle pregnancy symptoms with other conditions such as back pains or indigestion. Also, they might mistake accidental bleeding occurring during pregnancy with irregular periods.

All in all, Ms. Kropas is very excited about her newborn little baby. She said that she would have lots of help raising it. She plans to name the baby Ellie, after her grandmother.

Katherine said that her family had a lot of shopping to do like buying Ellie a crib. She also said that they were having a lot of fun so far, and she thought that was just the beginning.

Image Source: Daily Mail