Unbelievable Surprise: Woman Gives Birth Just 24 Hours After Discovering Pregnancy
Monica Thompson had struggled to conceive for 16 years without success, and at the age , she believed that having a baby was no longer possible.
“It was difficult because all my friends were having children, and here I was, unable to have a baby,” Thompson, a resident of Nevada, told Inside Edition.
So when she started experiencing stomach cramps and nausea in October 2018, pregnancy was the furthest thing from her mind.
“The doctor came in and asked, ‘Do you think you might be pregnant?’ I laughed and said, ‘Yeah, right. There’s no way. I’m too old to have children. I’m probably going through menopause,’” she recalled.
Thompson had also recently lost 20 lbs. due to adopting a healthier lifestyle. “You wouldn’t have guessed by looking at me that I was pregnant at all.”
However, the blood test revealed that she was indeed pregnant, and doctors later estimated that she was already 7 ½ months along.
“It was a complete shock,” she told Inside Edition. “It felt like hitting a brick wall, realizing, ‘You are having a baby now.’”
Her fiancé, Jason Ratliff, whom she began dating after her husband passed away in 2016, was equally surprised. The situation became even more astonishing when Thompson had to be urgently taken to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas the next day. There, doctors informed her that she was in active labor and already dilated 5 centimeters.
On October 7, her son Jayden was born via emergency cesarean section, weighing only 3 lbs., 9 oz. He was immediately transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and remained there until he was ready to go home.
“The day after I gave birth, I had to call my boss and tell him I had a baby, and he couldn’t believe it,” Thompson shared. “He was like, ‘What the heck?’”
Family members and co-workers showed their support by gifting diapers, clothes, and more to the new parents.
“They were incredibly supportive,” Thompson said. “They couldn’t believe I was that far along in my pregnancy. It was shocking to everyone.”
Although the arrival of her son, who is now 11 months old, was unexpected, Thompson felt that it was serendipitous. She had always wanted to be a mother.
“I thought, ‘Wow, I’m a mom,’” she expressed. “It felt right. I felt complete.”