Woman Gives Birth an Hour After Learning She's Pregnant

Menstrual cramps suck—especially when they’re the kind that accompany labor because you didn’t know you were pregnant in the first place.

My own personal worst fear came true for Katherine Kropas on Tuesday, when she gave birth to a 10-pound (!) baby girl about an hour after learning she was pregnant. Apparently, this kind of stuff doesn’t just happen to the Peggy Olsons of the world: a spokesperson for the hospital where 23-year-old Kropas gave birth said it happens “once or twice a year there.”

Via ABC News:

Dr. Jennifer Ashton, a senior medical contributor for ABC News and practicing OB/GYN, said she’s seen cases like Kropas’s in her career.

“It tends to happen in women who are overweight or obese to start, may have irregular periods and are less aware of their bodies,” Ashton said. “For most women who have been pregnant, they are aware of multiple physical signs and symptoms, and those signs and symptoms are not subtle.”

Kropas, who arrived at the hospital with back pain that puzzled doctors until they performed an ultrasound, said she assumed her weight gain was the kind that comes with partaking in holiday season revelry, not the, “I have a tiny person growing inside of me” variety.

Either way, I’ll be avoiding pigs in a blanket and Chex Mix for the foreseeable future.