Expecting the unexpected: Daisy, 21, gives birth at Ninewells just hours after finding out about her pregnancy.

ARRIVAL: Tayside woman’s stomach cramps turned out to be start of labour

A Tayside mum is settling into life with her newborn after her stomach cramps proved to be the arrival of the son she didn’t know she was expecting.

Daisy Young has spoken of her shock at giving birth to 6lb 13oz Elijah John in Ninewells Hospital.

Her mum Maggy had to get the all clear from doctors so she could break Covid-19 movement restrictions and rush north from her home in County Durham to meet the new arrival, arriving in Dundee at 2am.

Now recovering from the shock, as well as the birth, Daisy has shared her delight at the unexpected turn of events and her heartfelt gratitude for medics and friends in her adopted home.

The 21-year-old former student gave birth just a few hours after a pal dropped her off at the city’s A&E department.

Daisy, who moved to Dundee to study history three years ago, said: “I had stomach cramps the day before but

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I had put a little bit of weight on but I just thought that’s because I had started a job at Mcdonalds. DAISY YOUNG

thought nothing of it. They got worse so one of my housemates dropped me off at A&E, but couldn’t come in because of the coronavirus restrictions.”

When doctors told Daisy she might be pregnant she thought it was impossible as she had been using contraception and was still having her periods.

“I had put a little bit of weight on but I just thought that’s because I had started a job at Mcdonalds,” she confessed.

However, a scan revealed she was 37 weeks pregnant and in labour and a little over four hours after she arrived at Ninewells, Daisy gave birth to Elijah John at 6.48pm on June 9.

“I held him, I wasn’t even crying, I was just too shocked,” she said.

Grandmother Maggy had been gardening at the family pub in Crook when she got a text from her daughter saying she was in hospital.

“My first thought was she had been in a car accident,” said Maggy, who had last seen her daughter shortly before lockdown.

“I called and she just said ‘I’ve had a baby’. I couldn’t believe it.

“I turned to my husband Graham and just said ‘hello granddad’. His face was a picture.”

Although rare for a woman not to know she is a pregnant, there are around 300 so-called “cryptic births” in the UK every year.

Daisy Young gave birth to baby Elijah at Ninewells having not realised she was pregnant.