I went to get an allergy test at 20 & was told I was 38 weeks pregnant – I was still size 10 but gave birth the next day
Charlotte, 20, had periods throughout her pregnancy and had gained a tiny amount of weight, but was still a size 10, so she just put it down to her new contraception pill.
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She had no other symptoms and only found out about the pregnancy after she went to the GP to find out if she had a gluten intolerance.
Charlotte's doctor did a few tests, and, after feeling her tummy, confirmed that she had "gluten belly".
The GP then explained that she would have to take a pregnancy test, as the medication used to break down gluten is harmful to babies.
Charlotte, from Queensland, Australia, obliged and went to pee in a cup, which is when her life turned completely upside down.
The test revealed that Charlotte was pregnant, but she was told not to worry, as it didn't look like she was very far along.
She rushed home to tell her partner Dean, and was able to get an ultrasound booked in for that afternoon at the hospital where his doctor parents worked.
The ultrasound revealed that Charlotte was in fact 38 weeks and four days pregnant.
"At that point I kind of blacked out", she revealed in a TikTok video.
During the scan, the doctors realised that Charlotte's placenta was giving up, meaning that she needed to be induced in to labour as soon as possible.
"I was on my hands and knees throwing up because I thought 'there's no way this is happening right now", she said.
I became a teen mum after having a cryptic pregnancy at 16 - I kept her a secret for a whole month after she was born
After informing her and her partner's family about the situation, Charlotte was rushed to a hospital maternity ward.
The doctors planned to give her some medication to help her go to sleep, as she had been up for 24 hours by this point, but after a cervical check, it was revealed that she was already 5cm dilated.
Charlotte's waters then broke, and less than two hours later, she had given birth to a son.
"I found out at 8am on Friday morning, and then by 2am on Saturday I gave birth to my son", she revealed.
What is a cryptic pregnancy?
What is a "cryptic pregnancy"?
By medical definition, a cryptic pregnancy is one that is failed to be detected by medical testing.
There may be signs there, but essentially a cryptic pregnancy is one where these signs are not obvious to the woman, or she denies they are there.
A pregnancy test may come back negative even after the woman has missed her period for a number of medical reasons.
If she does get an ultrasound despite a negative pregnancy test, it's possible a pregnancy won't show up in the first trimester because of problems such as the way the uterus is shaped, or simply because the medic doesn't spend time looking for it if they don't believe it's there.
Most people notice symptoms of pregnancy such as tender and swollen breasts, mood swings, fatigue, and nausea early on in their pregnancy.
But this could be dismissed by the woman as being caused by something else, such as a condition or diet.
There are also cases where someone become pregnant in their early teens before they understand the symptoms of pregnancy.
Cryptic pregnancies aren't common, but they're not unheard of, either. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women might not be aware of their pregnancies in up 1 in 475 cases, according to a British Medical Journal report.
Some women are more likely to have a cryptic pregnancy than others because they believe it is not possible for them to have a child.
It includes those with PCOS, who may have been told it will be difficult for them to have a child, and women on birth control pills, because the woman thinks the pill will protect her entirely from conceiving.
Women with low body fat may also fail to detect they are pregnant if their periods are irregular or absent as a result of being so slim.
Babies born from a cryptic pregnancy tend to be underweight, and the lack of prenatal care may affect their development.
But what about the bump?
A women may have a smaller bump - one she and others around her deem insignificant - for a number of reasons.
TikTok sensation NHS surgeon Dr Karan Rajan explained: "Most women have an anteverted uterus, [meaning] it's slightly tilted forwards.
"But one in five have a backwards tilt towards the spine."
The GP explained that for some women, their uterus may remain tiled backwards for the duration of their pregnancy.
"This 'backwards growth' could hide any bump," he stated.
Other factors that could result in an invisible pregnancy could be "previous surgery, endometriosis and other gynaecological conditions [that] could scar the utroseacral ligament".
"These are basically biological anchors which keep the uterus fixed to the spine and inside the pelvic cavities," Dr Rajan explained.
"If these are stiff because of scarring, these ligaments can literally hold the uterus back and stop it from protruding too far out."
People who are taller also have more of a chance of not displaying a noticeable bump when they're expecting, the NHS surgeon went on.
"If you're taller, you'll have a longer torso so there'll be more space for the uterus to develop upwards rather than just outwards," he said, possibly giving the appearance of a small bump.
And if you have particularly "well developed" abs, this may make your uterus "develop closer to your core rather than protruding out".
"I had 17 hours and 21 minutes notice of being pregnant before having a baby."
Despite the ordeal, Charlotte says she and her partner now absolutely love being parents.
Her TikTok, posted under the username @charlottemaddison25, has likely left many people open-mouthed, as it has racked up over three million views on the video sharing platform.
TikTok users raced to the video's comments section to share their thoughts on the cryptic pregnancy.
One person said: "I had a cryptic pregnancy a year and a half ago.
"I didn't know I was having my daughter until I was in labour!"
A second person said: "My friend had a cryptic pregnancy.
"She thought her appendix had ruptured but she was actually in labour."
A third person said: "There is nothing more terrifying than this, and I mean NOTHING.
"I would perish from the terror the instant I found out."
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In a nutshell, we found that, if you live with high blood pressure, the more you walk with greater intensity, the lower your risk for future serious cardiovascular events. These findings support the message that any amount of physical activity is beneficial, even below the widely recommended daily target of 10,000 steps.'3,000 steps a day may help lower cardiovascular risksAs part of their study, the researchers examined data from more than 32,000 people who were enrolled in the UK Biobank database. The participants had a diagnosis of high blood wore accelerometers on their wrist for a week to measure how fast and how far they researchers found that compared with a daily step count of 2,300 steps, taking more than 3,000 steps each day and taking regular walks at higher speed was associated with a 17% reduction in risk of major cardiac events in people with high blood every extra 1,000 steps taken daily, there was a 22% reduction in risk of heart failure, a 24% reduction in risk of stroke and a 9% reduction in risk of heart attack.'Our findings offer patients accessible and measurable targets for heart health, even below 10,000 steps daily. Clinicians should promote physical activity as standard care, especially in patients with high blood pressure. Our results can inform new, tailored public health recommendations for these patients. Future recommendations on walking in people with high blood pressure could consider promoting higher stepping intensity,' Stamatakis said in the press amount of exercise can make a difference for heart healthThe study adds to a growing body of research that demonstrates any amount of exercise can be beneficial to improving cardiovascular Chen, MD, a board-certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA, not involved int his research, told Medical News Today that:'These results are significant in that they demonstrate a very clear dose-response relationship between walking and improvements in cardiovascular risk, even at low levels of walking. They indicate that even some physical activity is better than none, and that more is probably even better.' The study also concluded that taking any additional steps over 10 thousand a day was associated with additional benefits in reducing the risk of to Carl J. Lavie Jr., MD, Medical Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Preventive Cardiology at the John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, walking has many advantages for improving health.'The benefits are numerous including improving autonomic function (the balance between vagal and sympathetic systems), improving cardiometabolic profiles, including metabolic syndrome and diabetes, reducing inflammation, and reducing psychological stress,' Lavie, who was likewise not involved in this study, said. 'One of the most important things that physical activity does to improve prognosis is improving levels of cardiorespiratory fitness. Higher intensity walking or exercise (e.g. faster steps, running etc) improves fitness even more, but compared to being totally sedentary, some steps improves fitness at least a little and moderate steps probably gets people out of the very low fitness categories,' he benefits those with and without hypertensionThe researchers also found a benefit of increased steps among those who do not have high blood pressure. They examined data from just over 37,000 people without hypertension and found that an extra 1,000 steps daily led to a 20.2% lower risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, 23.2% lower risk of heart failure, 17.9% lower myocardial infarction (heart attack) risk, and 24.6% lower risk of Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that adults need 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity each week. One way to do this is by taking a brisk walk 5 days a week for 30 Garg, MD, cardiologist with Keck Medicine USC, says that movement is the priority and that the number of steps taken does not necessarily need to be the focus.'I tell my patients, 'look, let's not get hung up on this 10,000 number'… If we just focus on that as the threshold, then a lot of people are going to feel like they failed, and they may not walk much at all,' Garg said.'So if we change that message to 'any walking is beneficial,' that's a much more positive message to our patients,' he advidsed.
