41-year-old woman who never knew she was pregnant goes to hospital to check for hernia and gives birth hours later

A 41-year-old woman, Sammy Evans, has given birth to a healthy baby boy just hours after discovering she was pregnant, having initially mistaken a lump near her ribs for a possible hernia.

Evans, from Bournemouth, Dorset, in England, visited her doctor on September 14 after feeling unusual changes in her body but had no idea she was expecting a child.

She later discovered she had experienced a cryptic pregnancy, a condition in which a woman does not realise she is pregnant until late in the pregnancy or when labour begins.

Evans said she had missed her periods for months but attributed the changes to her age, exercise routine and significant weight loss after undergoing gastric band surgery two years earlier.

Doctors initially considered a hernia when she reported the lump, but a pregnancy test eventually raised suspicions. Although the first test appeared negative, a faint line prompted a doctor to recommend another test, which came back positive.

Despite the result, Evans did not expect to give birth so soon. She took antibiotics for a urinary tract infection and attended her usual water aerobics class that evening.

Around 1 a.m., she began experiencing stomach pains while in bed with her 10-year-old son. She initially thought they were period cramps but eventually went to the hospital as the pain intensified.

A further pregnancy test and a scan confirmed that she was pregnant and already in labour.

“I said, ‘Okay, so am I losing it? Is this what this pain is?’” Evans recalled in an interview on This Morning, explaining that she struggled to recognise labour because her first son had been delivered by emergency Caesarean section after an induced labour.

She contacted her partner, 38-year-old Triston McKend, who was working in Spain, to tell him the unexpected news. The couple had previously discussed not having more children, as Evans already had a son and McKend had a 16-year-old daughter.

However, before McKend could reach the hospital, Evans had delivered their son, Noah, who weighed 8 lbs. 1 oz. and was reported to be healthy and full-term.