Surprise Labor: Woman Mistakes Pregnancy for Burst Appendix

A 40-year-old mother in Kent, Natalie Austin, who had no idea she was pregnant, rushed to the hospital with stomach pains, thinking her appendix had burst. However, she was shocked to discover that she was actually in labor and about to give birth. Natalie and her husband had already gone through IVF to conceive their first child, Eloise. The baby, named Darcy, was born prematurely and diagnosed with Down's syndrome. Darcy spent almost 130 days in the hospital battling infections before finally coming home. Cryptic pregnancies, where women are unaware they are pregnant until they go into labor, affect around one in 2,500 pregnant women in the UK each year.