This Woman Gave Birth Seconds After Being Told She Was Constipated

Constipation and labour pains: Are they really that easy to mix up? [Photo: SWNS]

A woman who was told she was constipated gave birth on a hospital trolley just 20 seconds later.

Esther Hope, 23, from Chilworth, Surrey, didn’t know she was pregnant as doctors had put her abdominal cramps and back pain down to a bout of severe irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

She had been prescribed max-strength laxatives but after doubling up in pain she was rushed to hospital to be given an emergency enema.

She was left on a trolley in A&E at Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford and felt a sudden urge to push and 20 seconds later she gave birth to her daughter Lily Hope-Moore.

Just 20 seconds after being told she was constipated, this woman gave birth. [Photo: SWNS]

Doctors were stunned when they returned to see her holding her baby, who is now three months old and healthy, in her arms.

“I knew it was a baby as soon as I realised it was coming from the wrong place,” said Ms Hope.

“I couldn’t believe she was mine. I didn’t know what to do, I was hysterical.

“I was in total shock. Having a baby couldn’t have been further from my mind. I’d had the contraceptive injection.

“I just thought I had a ‘food baby’ because of my IBS.

“I worked 36 hours the week before and went to a wedding where I drank Champagne. I even went to Thorpe Park and went on the all the rides. I had no idea.”

Ms Hope didn’t clock she was pregnant, despite putting on weight and suffering from heartburn and back pains. [Photo: SWNS]

Ms Hope started getting stomach pains in May 2015 and was given an ultrasound and diagnosed with IBS and in inflamed liver.

But over the next few months she started getting back pains and heartburn and was going to the toilet all the time.

She put on two stone and went from a size 18 to 20, but she said doctors didn’t check she was pregnant.

“I took them at their word and never thought I could be pregnant, not while I was taking precautions,” she said.

“My breasts didn’t swell and only the upper part of my stomach was hard, the rest of my stomach was normal.”

When she was 37 weeks pregnant, Ms Hope suffered bouts of constipation and was eventually taken to hospital, where she gave birth.

Lily was born weighing 7lbs 2oz on November 10 last year and Ms Hope’s father, Tim, 51, was the first to hold her.

Ms Hope said: “I just couldn’t bring myself to hold her. It was too surreal to think she was mine.

“I just lay there looking at her thinking how did this happen? How could I not have known?

“When I did eventually hold her, I realised she was the most beautiful thing in the world, and I was so lucky to have her.

“It’s been the best surprise ever.”

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