A woman in New Zealand was in for quite the surprise a few months ago when she was admitted to a hospital for an operation to remove her ovaries after dealing with intense abdominal pain. Doctors instead found a 32 week-old 9 pound fetus alive and well. Inside her. Just hanging out. Now they are trying to figure out exactly how they missed the fact that there was a baby inside this lady.


25-year-old Rebecca Oldham, had been suffering from severe abdominal cramping and underwent several screenings including three scans, two blood tests and six pregnancy tests to find the root of the issue. Finally, she decided to go forth with the removal of her ovaries—she and her partner James Tipene were already parents to the now 20-month-old Hayley.

Apparently, Oldham was under when doctors realized there was a nine-pound human chilling out—they woke her up to inform her they were about to change course and perform an emergency C section. Kirsty Wynn at the New Zealand Herald reports:

"I am so glad they woke me and told me I was going to have another baby," Oldham said. "Even though it was short notice it was better than waking up and being handed a baby."


Could you imagine going under the knife for an oophorectomy and then being told by doctors "Surprise! We found a baby inside you. You're a baby-haver now"? You'd be physically, emotionally, and possibly financially unprepared. That's straight up my romcom premise nightmare.

For those of you at home wondering how a person could possibly not know she was 32 weeks pregnant, that stuff happens more often than you might think though stats vary from 1 in 500 to 1 in 7,000. Anyway, Oldham has heard it all before:

People say 'how could you not know?' But I really didn't. "I can't explain why but it was scary not knowing."

Still, having taken so many tests and undergoing so many scans, I think it's just impressive at that point that the baby didn't get picked up on anyone's radar. Man, baby James is going to make for some stiff hide-n-seek competition, that's for sure.

Image via Getty.