Woman Doesn't Know She's Pregnant, Gives Birth in Toilet

When Melissa Surgecoff suddenly started experiencing intense abdominal cramping, she thought she was passing a kidney stone. She was shocked when a baby appeared instead.

The 38-year-old resident of Peabody, Massachusetts reported experiencing pain all day on March 8 that became increasingly unbearable as the day went on. According to TODAY Parents, she eventually sat on the toilet, attempting to pass what she thought was a kidney stone. Meanwhile, her fiancé, Donnie Campbell, called 911.

In agony, Surgecoff said she finally felt something leave her body. "I look in the toilet and I still didn't know what it was," she said, recounting the scene. "And I thought I basically lost an organ because I didn't know!"

She had just given birth to her son, Liam, but she still had no idea she had ever been pregnant.

Campbell is reportedly the one who looked in the toilet and figured out that the unidentified mass was, in fact, a baby. He is said to have cleaned the baby with his sweatshirt.

Soon after, he saw the baby breathing. "I kept watching his stomach and he kept breathing on his own and then it became more of a celebration," Campbell said. "I stood up and held him close to my heart against my body to keep him warm," he added.

After a trip to the hospital, it was declared that baby Liam was healthy.

While Surgecoff didn't realize that she was pregnant at the time, she says that in hindsight, there were signs Liam was on his way.

Listing examples, she said, "Like my feet were swollen...My shoulders and upper body were swollen and just like, you know, gaining weight."

In an interview with NBC Boston, Surgecoff added that her menstrual cycle has always been irregular, and she assumed the flutters in her abdomen were due to gas.

Additionally, in terms of the weight gain, she said, "We thought it was medication because I had just changed to a new multiple sclerosis medication and that was one of the symptoms, gaining weight."

While rare, these types of so-called 'stealth' or 'cryptic' pregnancies are not unheard of. In late 2019, for example, a woman was reportedly working a shift at a restaurant when she unexpectedly gave birth to a newborn.

Despite the surprise, Surgecoff and Campbell are enjoying their new roles as parents. "Yeah it's amazing now," Surgecoff said, adding that the two "wouldn't change it for anything."