Mystery Stomach Pain Is Baby

Civil servant Pauline Simpson got the shock of her life when her tummy ache turned out to be a baby.

Pauline,45,and husband Ralph,51,have become first-time parents after 25 years of marriage.

Pauline put her stomach pains down to the medication she was on for heartburn,but was eventually taken to the works first aid room.

Her team leader Julie Whalley and first aider Sue Close realised her waters had broken and rushed her to the local hospital casualty unit.

Pauline said "I still didn't know what was happening.I thought maybe I'd taken a tablet too many.

"Julie suspected I was having a baby and as soon as we got to the A&E she told them to have a better look.

"Then I was on a trolley and taken straight down to delivery.I was crying: 'I can't be pregnant'.I was in such a daze I didn't know what I was doing."

Pauline had been feeling under the weather since February and had carried out a pregnancy test,just in case.

She said "When it was negative,I put it down to my age - as you would at 45.In June,I started to feel a bit ill and went to the doctor with heartburn and bloating and he prescribed Gaviscon.

"It was great for the heartburn but the bloating didn't go - and I thought it was middle-age spread.

"My clothes were a bit uncomfortable but I was still in the same size even when I bought a new dress for our silver wedding in July.

"We've never really thought about having a family because we have been quite career-minded and then we thought we were too old."

Their daughter Lucy Ann weighed in at a healthy 6lbs 4ozs.

Bookie Ralph said "I just couldn't take it in.Pauline had been feeling off colour but we had no idea she was pregnant.The odds of this happening must be a million to one."