Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Doctor told me I had IBS. An hour later I gave birth
BABY SHOCK OF WOMAN WHO HAD NO IDEA OF PREGNANCY
STRANGE cramps had Charlotte Wheeler-Smith wondering what was going on inside her tummy... and nothing could have quite prepared her for the answer.
Lawyer Charlotte, 31, had done a 7km run, a 5km walk and a session with a personal trainer when the niggling pain kicked in.
Incredibly, her doctor made a house call to examine Charlotte, and he said it was most likely trapped wind or irritable bowel syndrome.
But just an hour later Charlotte suddenly went into labour. She was about to give birth – yet didn’t even know she was pregnant. A wave of panic and mixed emotions swept over her but Charlotte still stayed cool.
She phoned boyfriend Dominic – who was out on a run – then an ambulance. Dominic got back in time for Charlotte to give birth in just three pushes.
But little Evelyn Rose was born breach and Charlotte suffered an umbilical cord prolapse, meaning her baby was starved of oxygen.
URGE
Charlotte says: “I had absolutely no idea I was pregnant. The only signs were stomach cramps two days before she was born.
“I thought I’d eaten something bad, or it was period pains, but I called a doctor on the morning before she was born, to be sure.
“He visited and said I had trapped gas and IBS. Then an hour later, I went to the toilet and an umbilical cord fell out of me. I could not believe what was happening.
“I got a sudden urge to push, then two little feet popped out. I was astonished, but I knew from watching One Born Every Minute that an umbilical cord coming out first is not good, because the baby is being starved of oxygen.
“And a breach delivery is harder. So I knew that I had to push with everything I had.
“I was strangely calm. I just knew I had to get our baby out.”
Evelyn Rose was born in a corridor at Dominic’s flat in Amsterdam, where he and fellow Londoner Charlotte live.
Dominic, 41, picks up the story: “We’d called an ambulance, but I saw the little legs and, at this point, it’s just me and Charlotte.
“I rang the emergency services back and said, ‘You’ve got to get here now, guys!’ Charlotte is standing there, holding on to the legs. She pushed once, and it was half way up the baby’s calves, she pushed again and it was up to the hips.
“With the final push, the baby dropped out. Just three pushes. Charlotte grabbed her and passed her to me. She was really floppy and blue. Then we started chest compressions and tried to get air into her. “In the meantime, the ambulance crew turned up and started working on her.”
Charlotte continues: “I shouted, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s a little girl.’ I’ve always wanted a little girl – a minime. I looked at her and she was so beautiful, with dark curly hair. I shouted, ‘Is she alive?’ I really thought at that moment she was dead. Dominic had given her CPR that he remembered being taught in primary school. She was whisked away in an ambulance and we were taken in another.
“I didn’t know if she was alive or dead. Then the emotional rollercoaster started. As a woman who has just had a baby, your emotions are all over the place – I desperately wanted her to survive.”
The couple – reeling from the shock of having a baby at all – faced an anxious wait to find out if Evelyn was brain damaged.
Charlotte adds: “Five days later, the neurosurgeon came back and said to the doctor, ‘Have you sent me the correct scan, because this baby’s brain is absolutely fine.’ She has no brain damage at all – a real miracle given the way she was born. We were so relieved, I burst into tears. We are so, so lucky to have her. She’s a dream come true.
“Being able to hold her for the first time four days after her birth was the best feeling in the world. It felt amazing and so special.”
Two-week-old Evelyn is recovering well and has been moved out of ICU and on to the children’s ward. To say Charlotte was stunned to become a mum is an understatement. She had no baby bump and had been having
I got urge to push, then two little feet popped out... I was astonished
CHARLOTTE ON BABY’S DRAMATIC APPEARANCE
We didn’t know if she was alive or dead... then emotions kicked in
MUM CHA RLOTTE AGONY WAITING FOR ALL-CLEAR
regular periods. Evelyn’s arrival came after a worrying time for Charlotte, who was overweight in her 20s and feared that might prevent her having children.
“I was 27 stone and my periods were very irregular, so I knew falling pregnant would be a struggle,” she says.
In 2015, after a diplomatic word from a friend, Charlotte joined Slimming World, started working out and lost a whopping 15st in 18 months – dropping from a size 30 to size 12-14.
She now writes a blog about her weight loss journey, called Slimming and the City, and shares exercise and recipe tips. In 2017, she met Dominic on Tinder and embarked on a longdistance romance with the telecommunications company director, who has lived in Amsterdam for 12 years.
While they had discussed marriage and children, neither was prepared for the shock birth of baby Evelyn.
Charlotte adds: “Because of lockdown, we’d been apart for 11 weeks, so when I got to Amsterdam three weeks ago, we had a lovely reunion.
GUILTY
“Who could have guessed just a few weeks later we would be parents?”
Luckily, Charlotte is not a big drinker and hadn’t been consuming much alcohol during her pregnancy. She exercised vigorously daily – running, indoor cycling, exercise classes – and travelled quite a bit too. She goes on: “I feel really guilty I didn’t realise I was pregnant, when I think of the things I have done while she was in my tummy.
“Crazy exercise, personal training sessions. All the travel.
“I went to Dubai in February and ended up playing Uno and drinking Hennessey Paradis – which is £1,000 a bottle – with Tottenham footballer
Dele Alli on the flight. Luckily that was the only time I really drank. Drinking for me is a single glass of Prosecco on a Friday night.
“I also had surgery when I was two months pregnant – a breast uplift and skin removal after losing so much weight. They did a pregnancy test, but it came back negative!
“Two days before I gave birth, I started with a run, followed by a walk and an online training session.
“Then I worked and cycled into Amsterdam to go to the pub. Two days later, Evelyn Rose was born. Our little miracle. I’m so, so proud of my body and all it has achieved.”
Evelyn is currently in Amsterdam UMC hospital and Charlotte and Dominic want to thank Ronald McDonald House, a charity which runs a home close to the hospital, where they have been able to stay.
Charlotte says: “They have been amazing. Staying there has meant we have been able to walk to see Evelyn and spend time with her every day. We are so grateful.”
The couple are raising funds for Ronald MacDonald House: justgiving.com/ fundraising/evelynroseamsterdam