Mother rushed to hospital with severe stomach cramps … and gave birth to baby boy she had no idea she was expecting
- - Teresa Howard, 43, thought she was suffering from a wheat intolerance
- - She was rushed to hospital and gave birth to her third son two hours later
- - She had been doing abdominal crunches unaware she was heavily pregnant
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A mother was rushed to hospital with stomach ache - and just two hours later gave birth to a baby boy she had no idea she was expecting.
Teresa Howard, 43, insisted last night as she held her third son, Ethan: 'I couldn't believe it!'
The drama unfolded after she begged her partner, Glen Toher, 42, to take her to hospital after she was struck down by what she thought was stomach cramps last Saturday afternoon.
Surprise: Ethan Toher at home in Norwich with his mother Teresa and his father Glen. Ms Howard had no idea she was pregnant and thought she was ill because of an acute wheat intolerance
Ms Howard, of Mile Cross, Norwich, thought she was ill because she suspected she had an acute wheat tolerance.
'Teresa phoned me on Saturday because her stomach had swelled up,' said Mr Toher, a Parcelforce employee.
'She said she was so doubled over in pain she needed to get checked out for this wheat intolerance that her sister has.'
Unexpected: Ethan's mother said she never believed women who said they hadn't known they were pregnant - but she has changed her view now
The receptionist at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital's A&E department immediately asked Teresa if she was pregnant. 'We both said 'no',' said Mr Toher.
'But then the doctor came and said Teresa was pregnant, congratulated us and said her contractions were five minutes apart.
'Not only had we just been told that Teresa was pregnant but that she was in labour too.'
The baby's heart rate then dramatically started to drop. So Ms Howard was rushed for an emergency Caesarean section, but doctors then had to change their plans because she had started to give birth naturally.
After entering A&E at about 1.25pm, the couple welcomed their third son, Ethan, into the world at 3.25pm. He weighed 7lb.
'At first I was frightened about not bonding with the baby because I hadn't had the pregnancy to prepare,' admitted Ms Howard.
'But as soon as they put the baby into your arms, you bond immediately.
'I just wanted him to be okay.
'I just kept thinking, "How did he survive in there for all that time without me knowing?"'
The couple broke the news to family and friends and said it has taken a few days for Ethan's shock arrival to sink in.
Ms Howard said she was even doing 100 abdominal crunches a night before Christmas in a bid to get rid of the 'muffin top' she said she had developed in the summer.
'I thought the weight was due to me not eating properly, pigging out and not exercising - but I was still doing my size 12 trousers up,' said the mother-of-three.
'I was running on our treadmill until we moved house at the end of September to try and get rid of the weight I had put on during the summer.'
Ms Howard was rushed to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital's A&E department where she gave birth
The couple have been delighted with the reaction of their two other sons - Kyle, six, and Connor, four - who could not have been happier to have a new little baby brother.
'They were really excited and have been very protective of him ever since he came home,' said Ms Howard.
She said she thought there would be people who do not believe her story because she was always cynical about similar tales herself.
'I am the first person who sees these stories in the papers and on the television and says, "Of course you know when you are pregnant,"' she said.
'I have had two boys - I felt rough almost all the way through pregnancy with both of them.
'I had heartburn, sickness, couldn't eat properly and I was huge.
'But now I am sat here eating humble pie because it has happened to me.'
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