Charlene, Steven, Emily, Sophie, Katlin and baby Janey in hospital (Picture: PA Real Life/Collect)

A mum who woke in the night in agony randomly gave birth to a baby girl in her bathroom – despite not even knowing she was pregnant.

Charlene Fullerton – who was on the Pill – and her partner, Steven Fraser, 34, had decided their family was complete, after having their third daughter, Emily, now 21 months.

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The full-time mum from Falkirk, Stirlingshire, said she had no idea she was pregnant, and was still having periods.

She even did two pregnancy tests – with both coming back negative.


The 32-year-old said: ‘I had no idea I was pregnant.

Janey shortly after she was born in her family bathroom (Picture: PA Real Life/Collect)

‘People asked me, because I had a bit of a mum tum, but I was still having my periods.



‘It wasn’t until I pushed out her head that I finally realised I was having a baby! It was the biggest shock of my life.’

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The drama unfolded in late August 2017, when Charlene woke up over the weekend, feeling out-of-sorts.

Then, in the early hours of August 21, she woke feeling terrible and rushed to the bathroom, realising she was bleeding and suffering from severe cramps.

She explained: ‘I know now that these were contractions, but I’d already had three kids and they didn’t feel anything like the contractions I had with them.

‘This was more like a continuous pain.’

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Waking Steven, her partner-of-15 years, Charlene told him something was seriously wrong.

She said: ‘He thought maybe my appendix had burst. He had no idea what was about to happen.’

Taking baby Emily downstairs, Charlene – also mum to Katlin, 11, and Sophie, eight – rushed back to the bathroom where, as the pain intensified, she fell forward onto her hands and knees.

Worried, Steven called an ambulance and after telling the operator about her symptoms, was told she could be in labour.

Charlene, Janey and friend Shirley in hospital (Picture: PA Real Life/Collect)

Within minutes, Charlene confirmed this, when she felt the urge to push.

The operator then guided Steven through the process, as he delivered their 6lb 1oz baby girl and placed her in her mother’s arms.

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Charlene, who said she had drank the odd glass of wine and smoked a cigarette during the previous nine months, added: ‘The noise woke up our older girls and they came downstairs to unlock the door.

‘Sophie just gasped and said, “Mummy, have you had a baby?” They were shocked – but then so were we.’

Taken to Forth Valley Royal Hospital, Falkirk, to be checked over, doctors said both mum and baby – who her parents called Janey – were fine.

But, as the couple had decided not to have any more children, after Emily was born in May 2016, Charlene had gone back on the Pill and given all their baby clothes and equipment away.

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She said: ‘I had no idea what we were going to do. We didn’t have anything.

‘We took Janey to hospital wrapped in a towel and the paramedics gave me a little hat for her, but we’d given everything else away.



‘Luckily, some neighbours, family and friends rallied round to give us clothes and a Moses basket.’

Looking back, the one giveaway sign that Charlene was pregnant was her weight.

‘We took Janey to hospital wrapped in a towel and the paramedics gave me a little hat for her, but we’d given everything else away.’ (Picture: PA Real Life/Collect)

She said: ‘I just couldn’t shift my baby weight, but I was a busy mum and I put it down to being a bit older.

‘A few people asked if I was pregnant again, but I dismissed it. I was still having my periods and other than weight gain, I had no symptoms.’

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To put her mind at ease, Charlene took a pregnancy test in February last year- but the result was negative.

Continuing to feel bloated, she took another one in July, but it was negative, too.

Concerned, she saw her GP, but was reassured that, after two pregnancy tests and as she was still having regular periods, it was extremely unlikely she was having a baby.

Charlene said: ‘Janey is such a chilled baby, which is funny after her dramatic arrival.

‘I’m just so glad that she’s ok, as I did have the odd glass of wine and cigarette, not knowing I was pregnant.

‘I’m thinking of getting sterilised now, though. Our family is definitely complete and I don’t want to go through that again.’