A young woman from the UK has unexpectedly given birth to a baby. 18-year-old Ebony Stevenson from Oldham, England, was hospitalized with headaches and epileptic seizures. There, the doctors found a so-called pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy poisoning. They put the young woman in a long-term anesthetic and made an emergency C-section. According to the mother, who was present in the emergency situation, there was never any talk of a pregnancy.

When Ebony woke up four days later, she learned that she now has a daughter, several British media report in unison. How could it happen that the adolescent did not know about her pregnancy? Why did she not notice any physical changes and why did she experience epileptic seizures?

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Unexpected pregnancy: Suddenly mother

Period despite pregnancy

The riddle's solution is a rare congenital malformation, a so-called uterus didelphys. The uterus is created twice. Ebony's child grew unnoticed in the posterior uterus, which was located on the abdominal back wall. Therefore, the baby stomach was hardly recognizable from the outside, the doctors suspect.

In the other uterus, however, as usual, a mucous membrane built up, which was repelled during the period. Ebony had menstrual bleeding throughout pregnancy.

And otherwise the young woman did not notice any signs of pregnancy. Her stomach had not grown noticeably, she had not felt any nausea. Then, however, had the violent headache and cramps occurred. The cause of these symptoms was preeclampsia - one of the most dangerous complications of pregnancy.

Two diagnoses at once

In a pre-eclampsia, the pregnant woman develops an elevated blood pressure. There are also protein excretions in the urine. In addition to the kidneys, the liver can be affected and no longer work properly, in the lungs water collects, blood cells break down or the placenta is no longer properly supplied with blood. Every year, about two out of every 100 pregnant women in Germany contract pre-eclampsia. However, during routine pregnancy checkups, high blood pressure and protein secretions usually occur and doctors can then more closely monitor and, if necessary, respond to the pregnancy. (Here you can read more about it.)

Two diagnoses came together at Ebony: the rare malformation of the uterus and pre-eclampsia. Whether the 18-year-old could have supplanted her pregnancy is unclear. It happens again and again that women do not realize that they are pregnant. Doctors speak of a "gravitas suppressalis" - a repressed pregnancy.

It is estimated that one in every 500 pregnant women is unaware that she is expecting a baby. In Germany, about 270 women only learn at birth that they are pregnant each year. Specialists distinguish between repressed and denied pregnancies. While in a repressed pregnancy the feelings are completely subconscious, the woman in the denied form is actually aware that she is expecting a child. (Here you can read more about it.)

Ebony gave birth to a healthy daughter. "It sounds awful, but I asked first to take it away," she quotes "The Intependant." "I was so confused and sure that the doctors must have made a mistake." At first she was afraid that she could not build a close bond with her daughter, but now she is very happy to be a mother. The 18-year-old now wants to continue her education.