We hear plenty of crazy birth stories, from moms who deliver babies in cars to those who give birth in stores. This one, however, in which a soldier in Afghanistan gave birth on the front line of the war, is beyond incredible.
It happened this week at Camp Bastion, where Prince Harry is stationed and two U.S. Marines were killed last week. According to the Daily Mail, the soldier, who is a gunner in the British Army, had been there since March but didn't have a clue that she was pregnant.
Then Tuesday she complained of pains in her stomach, and when medics checked her out, she was in labor. Shortly thereafter, she delivered a baby boy!
Can you even imagine fighting a war one minute and delivering a baby the next without any time whatsoever to prepare emotionally or otherwise?
I typically have a bit of a hard time believing people can really go through an entire pregnancy without a clue, but when you're in the middle of a war, it seems much easier to understand.
An Army "insider" told the paper that you'd think she would have suspected something, "but the conditions of deployment, the heat of the Afghan summer, the different hours of working, mean that many soldiers feel a little odd and put it down to the change of environment." So yes, I could see writing off some of the pregnancy symptoms when you're more concerned about things like trying to stay alive.
Sources say she passed all the rigorous training before she was deployed in March, which includes things like running eight miles with a 25-pound backpack, so she was clearly in good shape. While the Army has a policy against letting pregnant women serve, they must not require pregnancy tests before deployment. I'm guessing they may rethink that after this.
Though the baby boy was born five weeks early, he and his mother, who hasn't been named, are in stable condition. And surely in a bit of shock. Soon they'll be flown back to Britain, where she's certainly going to have a lot of work to do adjusting to this huge, unexpected arrival in her life.
Can you believe this birth story?
Image via isafmedia/Flickr
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Comments 12
The US military may require pregnancy tests, but the British may not. Also, my coworker is 5 months pregnant (confirmed with ultrasound) but her blood tests and urine tests still show negative results for pregnancy hormones, and now the doctors are making her take hormone replacements because they think this is the cause of her previous miscarriages. So anything is possible. I was my mothers 4th kid, and until they did an ultrasound the week before they were going to take her gallbladder (Hyperemesis Gravardium mistaken for Gallbladder disease) they found that she was at least 5 months pregnant with ME! So even someone who has had kids before can miss the signs.
She's in the British Army, so they do somethings different than the US military. Still.. crazy story.
WOW, that is incridible.
Unbelievable! I wonder if this story will be on that show "I didn't know I was pregnant"? lol
I hope baby and mama are doing well and that the transition is a smooth one!