File under "Clueless, Completely"

EastEnders star Mohammed George and his girlfriend Emma Archibald welcomed a full-term 5lb 14oz  daughter on Saturday night.

Here is the shocker… they had no idea she was pregnant.

Yes, I had the same reaction.  How do you miss something like that?

Let’s say she had no morning sickness.  Let’s say she thought she was just gaining a little extra weight.  But how does a healthy 24 year old woman explain away not getting her period for 9 months?  And what about all the other symptoms?  What about the baby kicking???  And what about common sense?  From time to time you hear about a naive teenager or perhaps someone who does not have complete mental capacity not realizing she’s pregnant, but a grown woman?  And as far as making up the story about not realizing it, man, all I can say is, I wouldn’t want people thinking I’m that stupid if it’s not true. 

The photo to the left was taken in November, making her 5 months pregnant at the time.  Even I can see a belly bulge!

According to The Sun, the 24-year-old Emma checked into a North London hospital with stomach cramps on Saturday night – and was shocked to learn she was about to give birth to a full-term baby.

The delighted papa Mohammed said, "It was all a bit of a shock – and a surprise – but a welcome one."

According to Hello!, the odds of having a "concealed birth," where the mother is unaware of her pregnant status, are about 24,000 to one.  I don’t know if that’s a technical term, but if it means a pregnancy without any of the bad side effects, then sign me up.

Source: Hello!

Thanks to CBB Reader Kristen who is amazed as I am.

Comments

i’ve read about that, it wasn’t a celebrity, but it’s not from national enquirer, that’s for sure. the woman (who has been pregnant before) still had her period during the pregnancy, the baby was tiny and had to be placed in an incubator for some time, but healthy. it’s not impossible. lucky them.

- stephanie on March 16th, 2005

sorry for posting several times :[ i just re-read that and corrected some things :

the woman (who has been pregnant before) still had her period during the pregnancy (not sure if it was nine months, could be premature), the baby was tiny and had to be placed in an incubator for some time, but healthy.

- stephanie on March 16th, 2005

that’s both sad and odd at the same time. she didn’t get to enjoy her pregnancy, but then again she didn’t get to enjoy everything that goes along with pregnancy (huge belly, swollen feet, morning sickness, etc). the baby didn’t get prenatal care, either, which could be a problem in her future. a large problem, too, with these type of births is that the parents have a difficult time bonding to the baby for obvious reasons, especially if they are in the prime of adulthood and feel as though the baby puts a damper on their life. i hope they love and get attached to the little girl, even if they weren’t expecting her. by looking at the parents, i’m sure the baby is gorgeous.

- abbey on March 16th, 2005

Are you freaking kidding me? I mean, how long does a woman go without going to a doctor…and if her body is changing…OVER A 9 MONTH PERIOD OF TIME??????? I mean, good for them, I am happy that the mother and child are healthy and all, and that the dad is happy about it, but come on people!!! I hope she gets some kind of class on how a womans body changes…the class that I took in 6th GRADE!!!!!

- Stina on March 16th, 2005

The same thing happened in a storyline in EastEnders not so long ago! lol

- Ani on March 16th, 2005

I have a sneaky suspicion that she knew she was pregnant but kept it a secrete from everyone. She might even have been in denial. Either way she is lucky to have delivered a healthy baby without seeking prenatal care.

- crazy on March 16th, 2005

My cousin was nearly nine months before she discovered that she was pregnant. She had her period the entire time and she was hardly showing at all. Just thought that she was gaining a little weight. The baby was still healthy.

- Shan on March 16th, 2005

I dont have much to say because its such a huge shock. That is downright “ridiculous” and why in the world would she tell the whole world this. Doesnt she know this makes her look so stupid???! I dont believe it at all. There had to be the “symptoms”..baby kicking..etc. She’s not looking very “bright” in that picture if u ask me. She even looks “bigger” in the photo. What about him? Wouldn’t he notice? I hope this is a good shocker for them…baby deserves it. I just…have nothing to say!

- Magda on March 16th, 2005

There is no way you do not know you are pregnant for 9 months unless you are mentally less that adequate. Forget morning sickness, weight gain and all that, you feel the baby move and kick, quite vigorously, actually so vigorously your belly moves. Obviously this is not true. I would hope so for the baby’s sake. If it is true, not only I would be worried about the dangers the baby was exposed to in utero, but about the lack of an intelligent parent to care for her/him. Poor little thing.

- sy on March 16th, 2005

Just to add. No one gets their period during a pregnancy. In other words, no one has montly regular bleeding at the volume as a regular period. If you have any bleeding more than what would qualify as “spotting”, the doctors would have you checked for a potential carriage ASAP. I am a mother who has both delivered a healthy baby and had a miscarriage. Look up any book on pregnancy… no period, not in the normal sense anyway.

- sy on March 16th, 2005

a friend of mine’s sister didn’t know she was pregnant until she started having horrible cramps and she went into the hospital and that’s when she found out she was 9 months pregnant. i don’t know if she had her period every month but she did have spotting every month. she didn’t have any symptoms and she only gained 11 lbs, which she just thought was a little winter weight gain. her baby was born healthy and weighed almost 6 lbs. i just think that some women’s bodies react differently then other women’s do. i know it’s really odd to me that a women could not know such a thing like being pregnant… i knew i was pregnant right away! but i guess some women are lucky enough to have no symptoms and gain hardly any weight.

- mel on March 16th, 2005

I don’t believe it for a second. I have been pregnant and there is NO WAY that I could have pretended that I wasn’t. That is very, very sad. The baby can/will/might suffer for her complete lack of common sense. There is a reason why people get prenatal care.

- Sarcastic Journalist on March 16th, 2005

That is sick, I question how able she is to raise a child if she couldn’t even tell such a major thing as that.

- Nicole on March 16th, 2005

Hello?!?!?!?! PUBLICITY STUNT.

- Laur on March 16th, 2005

no offense, just because you’ve been pregnant doesn’t mean you know everything about pregnancy. the human body is a complex subject and even doctors still get “well that never happens before” moments.

and this doesn’t affect her parenting skills, like the article said, 24,000 to one.

- stephanie on March 16th, 2005

haha, british soap actors doesn’t do this kind of stuff. if they want publicity stunt, they usually get some topless model to do a kiss and tell on sunday tabloids. or maybe they just got creative with this one

- stephanie on March 16th, 2005

stephanie, have you been pregnant? I do not believe it is possible to be like that for nine months and say you don’t know. There are just too many changes going on down there! And the kicking? How the heck can you not notice the kicking? My aunt did the same thing (well..it was denial, not sure if she knew about it or not) and my poor cousin has had to deal with the consequences of it for the rest of her life.

It is denial. Plain and simple.

- Sarcastic Journalist on March 16th, 2005

Having been pregnant, delivering at full-term myself, it seems to me that she had to know, or at least suspect, that she was pregnant at least part of the time. It is possible, for whatever reason, that she simply could not face reality, so she blocked the pregnancy out of her mind and pretended it didn’t exist, until the inevitable happened (the birth). This is rare, but has happened in other cases. If this is what happened, I feel much pity and sorrow for her and her family, and hope that she gets some kind of counseling or help.

- Allison on March 16th, 2005

That’s just unbelievable.

- Sarah, CBB Editor on March 16th, 2005

You know, people CAN be pregnant and not know about it. Like Mel said, not all womens bodies react the same to pregnancy. I’ve heard of several women who have had babies and not known they were pregnant. And yes, I have been pregnant, and I know how my body reacted. But, that doesn’t mean that everyone else in the world had my type of pregnancy. I had TERRIBLE morning sickness. My friends didn’t have any. I had spotting the first 3 months, but guess what? None of my friends did. It’s all about the individual. Some people could be in denial (which is REALLY sad if they are), and others might not have any symptoms at all.

And about the bleeding thing….It IS POSSIBLE for a woman to have her period throughout her pregnancy. My friend works in an Ob/Gyn office, and told me that a woman had come into her office at the age of 45 and was 8 months along. She was only in there for her yearly check-up. The woman hadn’t gone through menopause, she had a regular period. She ended up having a healthy baby girl. Go figure, right? She had a very high risk pregnancy, but had no clue she was pregnant. That doesn’t mean her daughter didn’t/can’t have complications later on. Just because it didn’t happen to you or someone you know, doesn’t mean it can’t or doesn’t happen.

- April on March 16th, 2005

It is hard to believe but not impossible. I know a woman who delivered a stillborn baby at 7 months gestation and never knew she was pregnant. Her periods were never regular so not having one didn’t alarm her. She was also overweight (not really the case with this girl). And though the baby was stillborn, he did live for 7 months and you can usually feel kicking by then.

The period thing doesn’t really mean much. Lots of people have irregular periods. I know of a girl who only has 2 periods a year. She’s been checked out and she’s perfectly healthy. That’s just the way her body works. I can’t really explain the kicking thing, though. :-\ Unless maybe the baby just wasn’t very active?

Anyway, congrats to them.

- Callie on March 16th, 2005

I would just like to comment that I am glad the baby is doing fine. However, it is possible, believe it or not for a woman to continue to have a cycle after becoming pregnant. I have spoken with a docotr on this matter, and he agreed that some women do continue to have a cycle. Although I doubt it is for the full nine months. Most girls that have had this situation to happen usually had the cycle for the first 2 or three months after becoming pregnant. So I doubt that she went the whole nine months without knowing. As was said before, you will definitely feel the baby move and notice other changes in your body.

- Ali on March 16th, 2005

It is possible that she wouldnt have known. A similar thing happened to my friends cousin.

- Jamie on March 16th, 2005

A friend of mine’s sister did not she was pregnant until she went into labot at 8 1/2 months. She actually thoughther appendix had ruptured! She had a very irregular cycle to begin with, had some spotting throughtout her pregnancy and was a super slender person. She thought she was just gaining weight as she approached her 30th birthday. She also thought she was having cramps-which of course was the baby kicking. To say they were shocked was an understatement. Grace is now a healthy 4 year old with another sibling on the way.

This woman is highly educated professional, gets regular medical care and doesn’t do drugs or drinks excessively. It just goes to show you that sometimes women’s bodies behave differently.

- Carolyn on March 16th, 2005

Comment deleted.

- deleted on March 16th, 2005

PS sorry to post twice – I forgot to mention that I didn’t have the tiniest bit of morning sickness at all. I didn’t even feel slightly off colour. It’s happened to a few people I know, and I’ve read some reports that say morning sickness can be largely psychosomatic, so it’s very possible for people not to be able to gauge their pregnant status on their puking.

- pingpong on March 16th, 2005

My cousin also didn’t realise she was pregnant and neither did the doctors when she went into labour for around the first half hour they thought it was her appendix -she didn’t look pregnant at all. She hadn’t had a period for around 18 months anyway due to another condition. Its just down to the individuals and each pregnancy.

- Claire on March 16th, 2005

WOW. What a bizarre story! If it is in fact true that she didn’t know all along – why on earth would she admit it publicly? Very strange and downright embarrassingly dumb. But I guess what is really important that it ended with a healthy baby.

- TexasMommy on March 16th, 2005

TexasMommy-why does someone have to be “dumb” because their bodies don’t show the same symptoms as everyone else? I realize we are talking about a very small percentage of women but you should watch your judgement.

- Carolyn on March 16th, 2005

Carolyn,

Read my statement again – I wasn’t calling her dumb. I was saying that admitting it publicly was dumb and has, in fact, turned into a big ordeal for both of them because they went public with the story.

- TexasMommy on March 16th, 2005

Ok — I HAVE been pregnant so here is my story. I was 27 — trying to get pregnant and was sick all the time. I had my regular period (28 days on the dot) and took numerous home tests — all negative. I was taking prenatals because I was trying and they recommend to start early. SO — I just didn’t feel myself. I went to the DR 2x to have blood tests done — NEGATIVE. I was still super sick feeling so the THIRD time I went to the DR they did an examine and said — You are pregnant! Turns out that some women MASK the pregnancy hormone AND can still have their periods. Anyway — I delivered a beautiful baby boy six months later. Now — 2 1/2 year later we are trying for number 2.

I can see going a few months, but no way could I have gone 9 months and not known. I am very petite and had a 9 lb baby — no way around that!

- Tanya on March 16th, 2005

I’m sorry to be a know it all, but I have heard on a number of occasions, of something called a “double womb.” I believe it can either be 2 seperate wombs parrellel to each other, or one womb with a septum dividing it down the middle. It is seen as an abnormality, and even though it is extremely rare, it is cited mainly as a cause for reccurent misscarrige. (After tests to discover this of course). However, there have been cases of undetected pregnancies due to this condition. Women with a double womb, can still continue to have periods, and because the pregnancy grows in the second womb (or behind the septum seperating the womb), not as much weight gain is noted, as with a normal pregnancy. It might also be impossible to feel the baby kicking. The baby can be born healthily, but usually at a smaller birth weight. Labour can be difficult, resulting in more lower back labour. So yes, with this condition in mind, I suppose it is possible to go full term without realising you are pregnant!!!

- ElzBelz on March 16th, 2005

On my local news recently was the story of a pregnant woman, who early in pregnancy was told after a scan by her doctor that the baby had died. She therefore underwent a proceedure to clean out her womb. This failed and had to be repeated again.
A few months later it was discovered that her baby had not been evacuated properly and was in fact alive and is now a healthy baby girl.
The baby had been so inactive that the doctors just assumed that the baby had died.

- Elea on March 16th, 2005

A woman can have her period during pregnancy. It’s rare, but can happen. I have also occasionally heard of the woman who had no idea she was pregnant. Not all babies are extremely active in utero. Also, maybe the placenta was attached to the front of her uterus, limiting feelings of movement. I have a friend who had that, and hardly felt her son move.
Also, have heard of women who gained no weight during pregnancy. In fact, a friends sister who just had her baby boy yesterday weighed a whole NINETY pounds at 9 months of pregnancy! Baby was a healthy 6 lbs 14 oz!

- Lauren on March 16th, 2005

I knew someone that was diagnosed with early menopose at age 32.She learned this after trying to concieve for 2 years with no luck. She was disapointed as this meant she could not carry a baby on her own. (not without a lot of money and drugs anyway) Her periods ceased after a year and she assumed it was related to the early menopose. She started noting her waist was getting round but again thought early menopose was causing this. At a checkup she briefly mentioned this and the doctor agreed yes, this was a menopse symptom. He examined her just in case. (they definately were not thinking pregnancy)She was amazed and thrilled when told she was pregnant. Even more so when an ultrasoud the next day advised her she was 8 months along. SHe has a beautiful baby girl. It was such a happy ending to such a hard time for them. Just for the record I have had three babies and I couldn’t imagine not being aware of a pregnancy, but I think rarely it can happen.

- jessica on March 16th, 2005

Yes, but, hello? She looks thin, yet she had a 5 lb baby inside her! Come on people!

- -- on March 16th, 2005

Comment deleted.

- deleted on March 16th, 2005

I know one person who got to 8 months before realizing it, but she was 43 thought she was going through menopause, and weighed close to 300 pounds (never showed with any of her pregnancies.)She lost over 100 pounds after she had the baby because she said she couldn’t stand being too fat to tell she was pregnant! That being said, for supervain tv stars how can they not tell? The press watches weight gain and loss like a hawk. They would have said something, she must have been in hiding.

- Cathleen on March 16th, 2005

I have heard of women having no idea they were pregnant – sometimes for months and months, occasionally at full term.

However, as in Cathleen’s story, most of these women were large enough that any weight gain wasn’t very noticeable.

Because the woman pictured is quite slim, with a small frame, I doubt that she would fail to notice that she was pregnant. (Particularly because unexpected babies are a recurrent them on British soaps – in addition to EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale have made use of this storyline.)

I don’t think Emma Archibald is famous herself, or that paparazzi would really follow Mohammed George around (he’s not a huge character on EastEnders) so she would be able to hide her pregnancy from the media.

- sarah on March 17th, 2005

Many years ago, one of my mom’s coworkers suddenly walked in with a newborn baby one day–no one had any idea she was pregnant! I guess she was fairly skinny too, but no one noticed (either she herself didn’t know she was pregnant or she just didn’t tell anyone). Also, I remember reading a story a couple months ago about a supermodel (can’t remember her name) who did a photoshoot in a swimsuit only a day before she gave birth. She had no idea she was pregnant and apparently she musn’t have gained any weight if she was modeling in a bikini! It’s definitely possible. Some babies don’t move around very much and some women do get their periods for the full 9 months.

- anonymous on March 17th, 2005

I wondered the exact same thing, until my cousin found out about a month ago she was pregnant– and 33 weeks along. I had the same questions: how did you not know? What about the baby kicking? Missed periods? She said she got her period (which I think she meant spotting; because like previous posters said, actual heavy bleeding would be indicative of a miscarriage or problem, and I think the average woman who didn’t experience pregnancy before would assume spotting WAS a period. I didn’t even know spotting existed until my first pregnancy.) She put on about 11 pounds, which she thought was just from overeating, and she apparently has had some sort of stomach condition that made her vomit regularly, so the morning sickness didn’t occur to her. She said she felt the baby kicking, but she thought it was gas or air bubbles. And she was on birth control when she got pregnant; so she thought she was protected, and never assumed it was a possibility.

It seems like a rare case, but I guess it really does happen to normal, intelligent women.

Luckily, she is THRILLED to be a mom (we should get the “come to the hospital!” phone call any day), and hopefully Emma and Mohammed are just as excited with their new addition.

- becca on March 17th, 2005

What a cool story. I don’t know why it should be seen as embarrassingly dumb to disclose something like this – it happens in 1 case out of 24,000, which makes it rare, but not impossible. It’s not as though stupidity is the only reason that she wouldn’t know that she was pregnan; as previous posters here have stated, there are many intelligent women who have been suprised to find themselves in advanced stages of pregnancy and/or labor.

I remember that Oprah did a whole show about this once. One of her guest was a woman who told of how she had been sitting in the back seat of a friend’s car eating ice cream when she felt a huge gush of liquid down her legs and on the seat- her water had broken. She was wearing size 4 short shorts, had experienced no significant weight gain, and had had no idea that she was even pregnant until this happened. I was a kid when I saw that show, but that story stuck with me.

Rare? Yes. Due to stupidity or denial? Not necessarily.

And I agree that their kid has to be cute; the parents are pretty attractive.

- lilianic on March 17th, 2005

I’m sorry but I really cannot believe a woman doesn’t realize that something has changed within her body when she is pregnant. Even if she doesn’t have a significant physical change, there are obvious signs *If you are paying attention to your body!* such as breast changes, cessation of your menstrual cycle–or a major change in the way your menstrual cycle usually is–, and to me, the number one sign is the baby moving around inside of you.

I have had anterior placentas with two of my children before and although the kicking is lessened a bit you can still feel it-especially in your 3rd trimester.

I have to agree completely with the poster who said, “Complete denial”. And yes, not being in touch with your body which doesn’t necessarily mean you are less intelligent, just that you are not that in touch with your body which is a shame.

- Anne on March 17th, 2005

i didnt believe this was possible until today. on my local news they reported a woman who went to the hospital with stomach cramps and two hours later delivered a full term baby. she had been to the doctor three times for leg cramps, no doctor caught it. she had her period the whole time, and one of the doctors even renewed her birth control patch prescription during this time.

also, my hair dresser didnt find until she was 5 months or so. she thought some of the symptoms were because she went off birth control and had allergies. the docotors had told her 6 months before her and her husband could not have children, as they had been trying for some time, so she didnt think it was possible. she found out when she went to the doctor to get back on birth control.

i cant imagine losing out on the joys that come with pregnancy (at least i experienced a very good pregnancy) as well as the time to prepare.

- leslie on March 18th, 2005

What? My girlfriend said she didn’t know she was pregnant. However she was 15 years old at the time…She gained 12 lbs and delivered a healthy baby boy..Her mom took her to the Dr when she was about 7 months pregnant. They discovered she was pregnant. Thankfully she had been eating healthy, but she was still riding bikes, and doing cheerleading and stuff…but there is no way a healthy 24 year old woman should not know she was pregnant!!!

- Yonni on March 18th, 2005

This kind of thing absolutely happens, my friend found out she was pregnant after going to the doctors for heartburn – a scan revealed her to be 36wks! She was always ultra skinny and very tall and she did not look pregnant in the slightest, she had had periods (they had always been light so spotting didn’t seem ay different) and she had been on birth control and also used a condom…
I’m just glad they’re happy about it and coping well.

- Grace on March 18th, 2005

I was a 24 year old suffering with prolactimonas which meant that my body was telling me all the time I was pregnant so when I did fall I didnt believe it. I got to 5 months before being told by a docter after a blood test that I was pregnant. There are medical conditions that hide a pregnancy. I dont think she is stupid and I think it very smug of anyone to say it. Not every one has a textbook pregnancy. Because of my condition I had a high risk pregnancy with the fear hanging over my head that my child would be deformed. I would not wish that on anyone. thankfully I gave birth by emergancy c-section to a 9lb10oz boy who after a breif sting in special care was very healthy and growing at a very fast rate. Congrats to this very shocked but obviously happy couple and bah humbug to you critics.

- maria on March 19th, 2005

i would just like to reinforce that it is possible to not notice you are pregnant. a neighbour of mine recently had a baby without ever suspecting she could be pregnant. she is a very thin woman and gained very little weight. she however mistook the stopping of her period for a natural occurance assuming she was going through the menopause.what i dont understand is how a healthy twenty somthing year old can explain that away, i know id miss mine

- kiki on April 5th, 2005

For the last 3 months, i have suspected that I was pregnant, because of weight gain in the stomach, heartburn, and occassional nausea. But, I still have my period and every pregnancy test is negative. Several times, yesterday, i even felt flutterings like a baby kicking. I did another pregnancy test today, and it is still negative. Unfortunately, doctors dismiss this possibility when I tell them about periods and negative pregancy test results. Couold I still be pregnant?

- joyce crowe on July 3rd, 2005

Joyce- It took me weekly pregnancy tests with my son until the 4th month, I felt all the symptoms you describe beginning approx. a week after conception, which was hard to pinpoint until he was born because I’d taken the pill religiously.
And my mom had her regular period, which was always pretty light, until the 5th month with me, while I had mine the first 3 months with my oldest daughter. The OB told me it can happen, particularly if you have a clockwork like cycle, the body is slow to give it up. My adult daughter has been on the BC shot, and was told she’d cease periods between 3-6 months on it, but ias going on 3 YEARS and still has a light cycle, her doctor says same thing,and she also has a 22 day cycle, has since she was 12, so technically gets 13 per year, and in all likelihood, will when she’s first pregnant too, they say. In fact, 3 years ago she had what may have been a miscarriage, she’d gotten a small belly, nausea, swollen breasts, but had never missed anything.

And there are psychological factors in some cases, where the brain doesn’t acknowledge what the body is doing. That’s quite common with teens, and rape victims, but healthy women have experienced it too.

I only gained 9# with my 6# baby, and barely showed, and only a tiny bit more with my 9# son, so I’m sure if I had a 5# baby, I wouldn’t have shown, and they were much lighter kickers than my middle child too,I barely felt them, and with the last one had to have frequent US because the Dr had hard time detecting movement, heartbeat, etc, and said she’d probably abort or be disabled, but she’s healthy as a horse, and my son was pretty good too. The middle baby had all the illness, allergies, etc!

Good luck to you, however this works out!

- patti on July 3rd, 2005